Notorious
by snowsa
Summary: "One day, you're going to fall in love with someone who won't want to be with you specifically for the way you act now." Sirius Black is notorious for having week-long relationships. Daelia is notorious for screwing things up. FULL SUMMARY INSIDE.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I know. I'm horrible. I just had to start a new story...But I've been reading Sirius/OC stuff lately, and I love them, so I felt like I had to write one...**

**Full Summary:**** Sirius Black is notorious for having week-long relationships. When the Gryffindor girls make a bet with Daelia in sixth year, they tell her that has to get Sirius to be in a relationship longer than two months by the end of the seventh year. But the worst part? That relationship has to be with Daelia. And Daelia is notorious for screwing things up. She may be good at winning bets, but when her own heart is at stake? Losing isn't an option. Using isn't an option. New guys? They aren't an option for her anymore, either, because she's got a few too many people that need to be overprotective. Things just got a lot more interesting for the Marauders. **

**I suck at summaries. Sue me.  
**

**Prologue:**

I knew that our last two years at Hogwarts were going to be epic, the best years, something we would never forget. They would be sad, heart-wrenching, terrifying, hilarious, exciting...Everything you could imagine. I knew all of that before we even started sixth year. But I had no idea just how epic they would be.

I never meant to make that bet.

I never meant to fall in love with Sirius Black.

And I never meant to let it all go to Hell, either.

But I've always been notorious for screwing things up. This was just another one of those things, though I hadn't expected it to get this far.

But it did. And now...Now I'm all alone because of some little mistake that neither of us could ever get over.

Going into it, I should have known that something like this would happen. I should have known that I'd screw up, get too involved, even though it was just a bet.

But bets never turn out the way we want them to, do they?


	2. Illegitimate Love Children

**A/N: So, you know, I obviously can't thank you for the reviews since I'm posting this at the same time as the prologue. But I'm hoping to change the summary, 'cos it totally sucks, and I actually want people to read this, because I like reviews...And that was totally irrelevant. Whatever. **

**And if any of you are following my other stories, yes, I deleted 'Harping on the Rez' and 'Dangerous Games.' The first one was just too weird and bad and the second one I totally changed the plot. . . I will be posting it again, but not any time soon.  
**

**Songs:  
**

**Hmm...Tell me, do any of you even want to know?**

**Chapter 1: Illegitimate Love Children   
**

"I swear to Merlin, Daelia, if you tell Lupin what I just said..."

I giggled as I listened to my best friend, knowing that I would most likely accidentally let slip the fact that Nellie Parker might just have a little crush on our very own Remus Lupin.

Of course, I would never intentionally say anything, but sometimes I ramble, and things that aren't supposed to come out just get said...

Which is why I think that Nellie should just stop telling me things. However, she still has hope that I'll someday be able to keep my mouth shut, and who am I to argue? I may be the scarier of the two of us, but Nellie can always find someone else to injure me if she wanted to.

I stared out the window, watching the trees blur by. We had now been on the Hogwarts Express for about forty-five minutes, on our way to our sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We were now at the stretch of forest on our trip, the part that had always been my favorite part. I grew up in the rural part of England, and I even lived in Ireland for a few years. Nature is kind of...my thing. I've always loved running through the forest, even if I do tend to get lost very easily.

Anyways, I honestly wasn't surprised that Nellie fancied Remus Lupin. He was one fourth of the infamous Marauders.

I still barely understood the name. They were a group of four Gryffindor boys, in our year, who loved to cause trouble. You hardly ever saw them doing anything school-related, (Other than using spells to hex random people) and yet they were still the smartest boys in our year. The whole school, practically. Remus was about the only one that studied; Peter Pettigrew was really just their lapdog.

James Potter. He was a pureblood, which is something people seemed to care about these days, but you would hardly be able to tell. Most pureblood families were obsessed with ridding our world of muggleborns and half-bloods, like me. James and his family were what many called 'blood-traitors' because they didn't care about blood status. Especially considering James has been in love with Lily Evans, a muggleborn and also one of my very good friends, ever since she rejected him sometime in third year. Since then, he's become her own personal stalker. He asks her out every chance he gets, even though she never accepts. Truthfully, I think he just keeps asking her because she's hoping that she'll get so annoyed that she'll got out with him just so he'll shut up.

Brilliant plan, Jamesie-boy.

The last fourth was Sirius Black, man-whore extraordinaire. He and James have been best friends since the first train ride to Hogwarts, and together they reek havoc on the entire school. (Mainly Slytherins, which is why I'm lucky to be in Gryffindor with them.)

Sirius Black is from one of those crazy maniacal pureblood families, but I'm not so sure they like him too much anymore. Everyone in his family has been sorted into Slytherin, so he's the odd one out. And Sirius doesn't really care whether you're muggleborn or your blood is purer than his, just as long as you're not a Slytherin, he'll leave you out of his particularly violent schemes.

I should probably admit now that I don't like Sirius very much. He's good-looking, sure, but he knows it. And he uses it. I can't even remember how many times I've had girls running past with tears running down their cheeks, screaming something about Sirius Black being an arse.

I don't mind Remus, he's actually a very sweet boy, and although his looks are quite nice, too, he doesn't seem to care about them. I don't even talk to Peter, because, honestly, barely anyone does. His looks are nothing compared to the rest of them, and his talent level isn't very high, either. People acknowledge him because of the other three, but no one really knows anything about him.

And James, well...James and I go way back. I knew him when we liked to play in the mud in the backyard, when I still carried around a teddy bear and he still tried to eat tree bark. James may be annoyingly arrogant, but he's always been around to help me, I knew he was serious about Lily, (I mean, come on, the boy hasn't been on a real date in years) and he was very loyal.

Actually, they all were. Especially to each other, but if you were being harassed when you didn't deserve it, they would be there to help. Because of my connection to James, they've all always been a little overprotective when it's not really needed, but I knew there was nothing I could do to stop them. The Marauders would always be stubborn, and if someone in school tried to tell me something else I'd lock them up in the loony bin.

Of course, the fact that I was good friends with James was not exactly appreciated by Lily, but by now she's learned to deal with it.

At least, I think she has. But what I think never really seems to matter, so...

I sighed loudly and pushed my light brown bangs out of my eyes. Nellie stared at me, amused, because she knew how much I hated the fact that I had to brush them out of my face every five minutes. She always told me that I should get them trimmed, but I refused every time. My hair is slightly wavy and goes down to about the middle of my back, and I haven't gotten it actually cut for three years. I've been trying to grow it out, even though I really have no idea why, and I want it to keep growing. It's so light that it's almost blond, and many people like to argue about the fact that it's really just strawberry blond.

My opinion? I don't really care. It never gets too messy, so if it wants to be blue, I don't give a flying dragon.

"So, Daelia, I hear that you decided to get a cat this summer?" A voice said from the door. I turned to see Lily Evans smirking while she leaned against the compartment door. Alice Prewett, another Gryffindor sixth year, was standing right behind her.

"Yeah, so maybe I did decide to get a cat. Is there a problem with that?" I responded, a little defensively.

Lily's smirk grew more pronounced. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you've been swearing that you'll never get a 'beastly ball of fluff that just eats everything you own' since first year."

I sighed dramatically. "Alas, this beastly ball of fluff was too cute to pass up." I said, motioning towards the cat that was lying on my lap.

It was true, ever since the time during first year when one of the fifth year's cat started rampaging around, utterly ransacking Gryffindor tower, (And eating a pair of my favorite Converse in the process) I'd been swearing that I would never own a cat. I always complained about all the little first years, because it seemed as if they all had cats and kittens that were there specifically to torture me.

I mean, isn't that what the first years themselves are for? They don't need crazy psycho kitties to do it for them.

But when Nellie and I had gone shopping in Diagon Alley for school supplies, she'd needed to go to the magical creatures shop to make sure her owl was okay. And then I'd seen this adorable little silver cat, and she'd looked at me with her yellow eyes, and I had to have her. Since then, she's been perfectly behaved.

"Well, just don't train it to attack or anything. We've got Potter to do that." Nellie said, casting an amused glance at the now scowling Lily.

"Yes, Lils, have you had any run-ins with him yet?" I asked, playing along with Nellie's scheme.

Lily's scowl deepened. "No, but I'm sure it won't be long now. I'm sure Remus has told him that the prefects meeting is over. He always manages to find me when we're on the train."

"It's a _train_, Lily. There may be lots of people, but it doesn't take more then twenty minutes to find a specific person." Alice chimed in.

"Knowing James, he's probably got some kind of tracker on her, too." I added, causing Lily to glare at me.

See, my dear friend James is obsessed with my other dear friend Lily. He's liked her since second year, but ever since she rejected him...I swear, he asks her out at least twice a week. And it's not always in a nice, romantic way, either.

But we all know that they're going to end up together. Everyone except Lily, of course. And I know that even though James seems to be constantly arrogant, he really does worry about Lily never saying yes.

No, the constantly arrogant one is James' crime buddy, Sirius Black...Who I refuse to say anything else about, because that would be entirely too long.

We've got bets on when Lily is finally going to say yes, although Nellie is already out. I say December of the seventh year. Alice says May of this year, and it varies with all of the other Gryffindor.

We've also got bets on how long Black can actually hold a relationship. His record is three weeks. My bet? My bet is that he can't last any longer than that.

I glanced at Lily to see her grimacing, and I shot her a questioning look. She just stepped into the compartment, Alice trailing behind her, and they both tried to fill up as much space as possible.

At first, I thought that it was going to be James, but when I heard the obnoxious giggling, I knew exactly what was about to happen.

Two girls stepped into our compartment, both taller than any of us. One slightly taller, with black hair (That I knew was died, thanks to the fact that I shared a dormitory with her) and a haughty face that always managed to remind me of Narcissa Black. She was obsessed with wearing heels, and she seemed to think that she ruled all. (When, in contrast, I'm the one that rules all. Well...No. I guess not.) The second, who was slightly shorter with chocolate brown curly hair, practically worshiped the ground that Sirius Black walked on. She had dark brown eyes that were, in my opinion, incredibly boring. She didn't wear stilettos, like the fake black haired girl (Who was really just another boring brunette) but she was almost always wearing boots with four inch heels. She did everything Elvora told her to, and sometimes I wondered if it was just because Elvora was blackmailing her or something of the like.

These two girls, Elvora and Shannen, were two other Gryffindors in our year. The four of us hated them, mainly because they spread gossip wherever they walked. And because we were their dorm mates, we were their prime targets. This one time when I'd gotten the flu and started throwing up in the morning, they felt the need to spread around the whole school that I was pregnant with Professor Slughorn's lovechild.

Another time, when Elvora had caught Nellie with a thong in her trunk, they'd both spread about that she was 'selling herself' to the highest bidder. For months afterward, students kept asking her for. . . services. . . for money.

Just last year, they'd told the whole school that I was having an illicit love affair with Severus Snape, (A very disgusting Slytherin whose obsession with Lily was even more frightening than James' obsession.) all because he had been answering a question about Potions in the library for me. For weeks after, James had refused to talk to me.

Have I mentioned that _I_ seem to be their main target? No? Well, I am.

All because of some stupid nickname that I don't even like...

Anyways, even if most people don't listen to their rumors, there are always a few that do. And then they try to convince the rest of the school...

Let's just say that I doubt that any of us will be sad when we never have to see them again.

"So, girls, long time no see, yeah?" Elvora said, obviously trying to hold a smirk off her face.

No one else responded at first, just glared, so I rolled my eyes and said, "Yes, and we're seeing you all too soon. Don't you have some lowly Slytherin to shag?"

Her eyes locked on me and narrowed. Even if that nickname originally gave her a reason to hate me, the fact that I talk back to her fuels that hatred. I mean, Lily talks back to her too, and so does Alice. But when we're all together I'm usually the one that speaks to her.

Mainly because I have so much fun doing it.

"And don't you have a baby to go see?"

I widened my eyes and put on my most innocent face. "Oh, no, haven't you heard? Old Sluggy decided that he'd rather take care of it. Didn't want our child completely parentless, he said."

Nellie giggled and as Elvora glared at me, Shannen tucked a brown curl away from her face and turned to Nellie. "And how about you, Parker? Still picking your nose while you wait on street corners for some horny muggles?"

Okay, I don't care what they say to me, because I can handle those kinds of things. I fight fire with fire, and sarcasm is like a second language to me. But Nellie? Nellie is sweet and shy, and her self-esteem is low enough as it is.

I whipped out my wand and they both glanced at me cautiously, most likely remembering fourth year when I gave them both bright orange hair and monkey tails. I was just about to think about giving them both a hair growth spell, so their grows fast _everywhere_, but a voice interrupted me.

"Aw, hexing without us? I'm ashamed of you, Muffin." I flinched as I heard that stupid nickname, not even needing to look towards the compartment door to know who it was.

Elvora stepped aside, smirking and trying to look seductive, while Shannen's eyes brightened and she looked like she'd just been told that she'd inherited a huge fortune or something.

Black smirked a little, too, as he glanced at the two of them and walked into our compartment, James right behind him. He smiled warmly at me for a moment before pulling his gaze to Lily, which was to be expected.

Black walked over and sat next to me, in the spot that Nellie had conveniently vacated seconds ago. I glared at her as I started petting Strawberry. Black was a little too close for comfort as he threw an arm around me and said, "I've missed you, Muffin! You never wrote me!"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "First of all, neither did you, second of all, I didn't want to write to you. It's just a waste of my life."

He pouted and said, "Aw, Muffin, you wound me. Maybe I didn't write to you because I was too afraid you'd reject me."

I snorted again, only then realizing that Elvora and Shannen were still standing right inside our compartment, both glaring at me.

"Well, Sirius, I'm sure _Muffin_ had other things to do with her time. Like taking care of that precious baby of hers." Elvora sneered.

I knew that Sirius wasn't exactly fond of either Elvora or Shannen, so what he did next was no surprise. He mock gasped and turned to me. "I thought you got rid of it! So are you telling me that I've got _another_ illegitimate child?"

I laughed and Alice and Nellie giggled while Lily glared at James. Elvora glared some more while Shannen looked horrified. Finally, Elvora said, "Come on, Shan, let's go." And tugged on Shannen's arm to get her to stop staring at Sirius like he was her god or something.

I let out a breath as they finally left, reaching up and pulling Sirius' arm off of me. He frowned and said, "Muffin, do I not get to welcome you back?"

I groaned. "_Stop_ calling me that. How many times have we been over this?"

He grinned. "Not sure, love, but I will _never_ stop calling you Muffin."

I groaned again as I leaned my head back, noticing that Alice and Nellie were both stealing glances at the two of us while James talked quietly to Lily. Surprisingly, she didn't look like she wanted to rip his throat out.

I could still remember the day that Sirius gave me that stupid nickname. The first time I'd ever talked to him was breakfast on our first day of classes in first year, and I was apologizing for accidentally throwing throwing a muffin in his face. I'd been aiming for James, just because he was being annoying, but a Ravenclaw had run into me and caused the muffin to go to James' left and hit Sirius right in the face. Sirius had looked shocked for a second and then laughed it off, deciding that he would forever call me 'Muffin.' The fact that muffins were the only thing I was eating that day didn't exactly help my case.

That was the reason that Elvora had started hating me. At the time, she was quite smitten with Sirius, (Still is, actually) and was upset that he'd given me a nickname and not her. She'd even asked me about it one time during the beginning of third year, before she'd gone all rumor-bitch on us.

"_So do you think if I did something cute like accidentally hit him with a muffin or something, he'd like me and give me a cite nickname?"_

_Cute? That nickname is not cute, nor will it ever be. I snorted. "I doubt it. Black just loves to annoy me."_

_She pouted. "But...Why does he like you more than me?" She exclaimed angrily. _

_I stared at her like she was crazy, and left the conversation at that._

After that day, she'd joined forces with Shannen, (Who had actually been a sweet girl that both Alice and I were friends with) and together they formed what I liked to call the Vixens. I think you can figure out why I call them that in your own.

A peal of loud thunder broke me from my thoughts. I'd had no idea it was even raining.

Sirius smiled down at me. He knew that I had a fascination with storms, and that I loved when it rained. I always tried to get outside so I could just stand there and let it fall.

But I'd most likely get pneumonia from that, so...

I turned towards the window, but couldn't really see anything because of the droplets that were falling together to form a small stream and racing down the window. All I could see was dark gray and the occasional flash of lightning.

I looked back at Sirius and asked something that I'd been dreading, but had noticed since he first stepped into the compartment. "You seem...better." I started hesitantly, keeping my voice low so that no one else could hear. "I mean, you're always happy to come back to school, but usually...You usually look worse than this when we first get back."

He grinned happily, although his eyes adopted a dark look. "Yeah, I ran away to the Potter's this summer. Got tired of all of it, and...They're like my second family. You didn't know?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't talked to James all summer. I was in Ireland with..._them_." I grimaced as I said the last part; he knew exactly who I was talking about, and so would anyone else in this compartment, though they were the only ones. (Other than Remus. Hmm, wonder where dear Remus is today...)

I lived with my twenty-four year old sister, Evangeline, and her husband, Marcus.

Dad? He split when I was eleven. Simple as that. As for Mom, well, that's a bit more complicated.

Mom and Dad? They used to be completely happy. It always gave me hope, seeing them together. I'm not exactly a hopeless romantic, quite the opposite, really. I'm more of a cynic. But when I saw them together...It was obvious that real love was possible. But suddenly, Dad decides that he needs a break and wants to 'see other people.' They got married when they were real young, and he felt as if he needed to know what was out there. In other words, he found some twenty year old and accidentally got her pregnant. (At least, that's my theory.)

Mom had always been a dedicated Healer at St. Mungos, but once Dad left, she went into overdrive. At first, she was probably home for about an hour a day, and when she was, she brought the cases with her. After a few months, on most days, she wouldn't come home at all. Evangeline had already gone to live with Marcus, so I was left to fend for myself. I didn't mind too much, except for the fact that there was never any food, and Mom never left any money for me to go to the grocery store. It was almost like she completely forgot that I lived there.

So, that summer, I practically became a permanent fixture at the Potter house. Sirius was there quite often, too, so we kind of had to tell him why I was always over digging through their fridge or waiting for Mrs. Potter to make something. third

The summer after third year was exactly the same, except I don't think I even saw my mother _once_. There were many times when I would fall asleep on the Potter's couch while watching a movie with James. None of the family ever seemed to mind, though, and more than once they all suggested that I permanently move in with them. Even Sirius suggested it a few times.

And then, in the middle of fifth year, while we were home for Christmas break and I was sitting in their living room with James and Sirius, Mrs. Potter came through the door with a disturbingly blank face. She informed me that my mother had been attacked by one of the patients she'd been caring for, and that she'd 'passed on.'

The thing that most disturbed me wasn't the fact that I felt entirely alone now. It was the fact that no matter what I thought about, I couldn't bring myself to care as much as I should. Sure, I'd been sad, but I didn't feel like anything tragic had happened.

_I was sitting at the kitchen table when Sirius walked in and sat down right next to me. After a few moments, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"_

_I laughed humorlessly. "What's there to talk about? I'm a heartless bitch who can't bring herself to cry over the fact that her mother is dead."_

_He put an arm around me and pulled me closer. "You're not heartless. Otherwise you wouldn't be feeling so guilty about not caring."_

_I sighed. "I just...I think I lost her a long time ago, you know? I haven't seen her or talked to her in over a year. I think I've already grieved for this."_

So really, I may not particularly like Sirius Black, and I may think that he's a man whore, but he's been there for a lot. I can't exactly bring myself to hate him after everything.

Suddenly, two girls stopped right in front of the closed door to our compartment. The taller girl stood and glared at Sirius for over a minute, glanced at me for a few seconds, and then walked away.

I turned to Sirius and quirked an eyebrow. He grinned sheepishly. "Ex. It was a relationship that didn't end very well."

Lily and I both snorted. "Yeah, and how long did this one last?" I asked.

"Uh...I think it was eight days?" He glanced at James for conformation, and James nodded. "Yeah. Eight days."

Alice shook her head. "What ended it this time?"

Sirius smirked. "Well, she caught me snogging her cousin in James' front yard."

See? Man whore.

**Yes. There you go. Now go and review, even though I've already got another chapter up. Just...review.**

**Disclaimer: This is probably the only time you'll see this. But I don't own Harry Potter. Or the characters, except for my OC's. And this plot, which I have never seen before, (even though I'm sure it's out there) so you cannot accuse me of stealing. Don't be fooled. I'm not J.K. Rowling. :'(**


	3. The Bet

**The only thing I have to say is that Elvora's middle name is pronounced Share-sten. Just thought that I'd tell you that, since it's in this chapter. And yes, the contract is stupid. Very stupid. But hey, it's not like they're lawyers. They're just teenagers.  
**

**Chapter 2: The Bet (Aka, the Catalyst)  
**

The sorting was the same as usual; James and Sirius moaning about how they needed their food, while Lily and Nellie tried to decide which of the new Gryffindors would be the smartest. I sat with Mary McDonald, the other sixth year from our house, as we both stayed quiet and spaced out.

See, that's one thing I like about Mary. If you want to be left alone, she'll leave you alone. She's not exactly shy, but Mary's kind of...antisocial, I guess. If she needs to talk, she will, and she has no problem with it, but she thinks it's pointless to have a meaningless conversation with some she hardly knows. Alice, Lily, and I are really the only ones that she'll talk to. Sometimes I'm amazed that she even bothers with me, especially considering how much she and Nellie hate each other.

There were eight first years placed into Gryffindor, five of which were boys. There weren't very many Slytherins, either, and as James so kindly pointed out, the ones who were put into Slytherin didn't look very cunning. They just looked like they would do whatever their 'leader' told them to.

And I pointed out that that could be just as dangerous as the cunning ones.

I mean, really, they'll do anything the Oh-so-evil leader tells them to. I don't think that means that they're not a threat.

Of course, when you group them with Bellatrix Black, I'm sure they look like meek three-legged kittens.

Dumbledore made his usual speech, telling us to stay away from the forest, (He stared pointedly at the Marauders and I) and telling us that Filch's list of banned things had grown. James and Sirius glared at Dumbledore through the whole speech, no doubt waiting for their food to appear. When it did, the look on James' face made me think that Lily had finally said yes to him.

Except that couldn't happen yet, so I'm guessing he was just _really_ excited to get his food.

"So, Daelia, why did you never write back this summer?" Lily asked as she reached for the traditional chicken. (I seriously think that they serve that everywhere. Even in huge fancy boarding schools for magical people where elves serve you your food.)

I swallowed my pumpkin juice and cleared my throat. "Oh, we were just really busy. I was with my sister and her husband, and they decided to rent a cottage in Ireland for the summer..." Okay, so at least this wasn't entirely a lie. Yes, they'd rented a cottage in Ireland. Not just for fun, but they'd still rented it. Of course, she didn't need to know why I _really_ hadn't written her...

The meaningless chatter of the students of Hogwarts was calming, even if it _was_ insanely loud. I'd been stuck with just Evangeline and Marcus to talk to all summer, and it's not like they ever had anything nice to say. So I just sat back and scarfed down some food, listening to the conversations going on around me. James and Sirius were telling Remus about some prank they'd pulled over the summer, Nellie and Lily were talking about Lily's sister, (Who was apparently engaged to a scary walrus of a man that Lily despised) and Alice and Mary were chattering about how fun their summers had been.

I tried to ignore that conversation, though.

After about fifteen minutes, I zoned out a bit, focusing mainly on the fact that I was eating _real_ food again. I didn't even realize that it was over until Sirius came right up behind me and whispered into my ear, "Come on, Muffin, there's no food left, and I really hope that you're not planning to eat the table. I'm not in the mood to go to the hospital wing on the first night back. Although I guess seeing you eat a table would be quite amusing, Muffin. . ."

I jumped at the sound of his voice and scowled at the nickname. I looked around the Great Hall, only to see that it was entirely empty other than the few people who were still trying to get out the doors. Wordlessly, I stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, starting up the first flight of stairs.

Black (I can never decide whether to call him Sirius or Black. The first makes it seem like I actually like him, but the second implies cold indifference, neither of which I like very much.) was trailing right behind me, and by the time we got to the third floor, I couldn't stand the silence.

Silence has never been my friend.

And besides, I could _feel_ Sirius' amusement. And I don't like it when he's amused. Especially considering I knew that he was amused because he knew of my hatred of silence, and he wasn't starting a conversation because of that very reason. He was practically _forcing_ me to talk to him.

"You know the one reason I hate being in Gryffindor?" I mused, a little angry at the fact that I actually had to willingly speak to him.

"And what's that reason, Muffin?"

For once, I ignored the nickname. "I seriously think that we're the farthest away from the Great Hall. And the Great Hall is where all of our _food_ is. So when we're hungry, we've got to _find_ these stupid staircases, which takes enough time itself, but then we've got to go down every flight, too. And if you're really tired, then you have to go _up_ every flight of stairs just to get some sleep. And the stupid bloody staircases always decide that they want to_ move_. I swear, it's like they _want_ me to starve to death." I took a deep breath, now that I was done with my rant.

Although we were walking, he stared at me for a moment before laughing. "Ah, the summer just wasn't the same without you, Muffin."

Yeah. My summer wasn't the same, either. You got to run away to safe confines of the Potter Manor. I got locked in a cement basement.

Looks like our summers were quite different, Sirius.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

We were all too hyped up to go to sleep, so Alice, Lily, Mary, Nellie, and I all sat on the floor in the middle of our dormitory, talking about nonsensical things and telling stories that were actually quite amusing.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you that you're extremely lucky to have me as a friend, Lily, because I convinced James not to ask you out in front of the whole school tomorrow morning." I said to her.

It was true. When Sirius and I had come into the common room, I could already see that James was planning an attack on Lily.

And I couldn't let her say yes. Not until seventh year. I refuse to lose that bet!

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, you are the ultimate friend of all friends. But I saw you and Sirius come in. Are you sure you weren't just trying to spread your...happiness?" She asked, one perfect red eyebrow arched.

I shuddered. "Never. Just...never. No. That's just...wrong. Black is an arrogant man whore who will never have a girlfriend for more than a month." They all nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately, Mary decided that she had to add in her two cents.

"Well, that may be true, Dae, but you seem to be the only girl that he willingly talks to without wanting to take you to the broom closet."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he wants to take her there." Alice added, sounding much too amused.

Unfortunately, (again) Elvora and Shannen decided that they needed to get into this conversation, too.

None of us had noticed that they were even here. Last we'd seen them, they were both downstairs in the common room, already gossiping.

"So, Daelia," Elvora started, hand on her hip with Shannen behind her, imitating the movement, "You think Black likes you?"

I rolled my eyes. "He likes to _annoy_ me. As for the broom closet thing, Black will shag anything with legs."

She sneered at me. "Yeah, right. Like he wants to shag _you_."

I rolled my eyes at her again. "He wants to shag _everyone_, Elvora. That's precisely why he's a man whore."

She looked strangely smug, and the malicious glitter in her eyes made me think she had an idea.

One that I was_ not_ going to like.

"Well, I bet that _I_ could get him to be...exclusive for more than a month."

Lily and I both snorted. "No chance, Elvora. No chance at all." I stated.

She still looked smug. "Well, I vote we make a little bet, then."

I froze. Bets are kind of my. . . weakness, I guess. I've got a lot of pride, and. . . sometimes I feel like that's _all_ I've got. Everyone knows that I never back out on a dare, and that I can hardly ever resist bets.

But this was Elvora Hardsgrove. And she always has some kind of hidden agenda.

Nellie, sensing my hesitation, said, "And what exactly would this bet be?"

"Yes, do tell, Elvora. Because I'm certain that there's only one person that Black can keep interest in." Lily added, her eyes flicking to me quickly, and then back to Elvora.

Elvora looked a little angry, but smirked nonetheless. "By the end of seventh year, I bet that I can get Sirius to be in an exclusive relationship with me for two months."

And this is the part where I want to strangle Lily, because this is when decided to say, "Okay. But we bet you that Daelia can get Black before you."

I sat there, stunned, as Alice, Mary, and Nellie all nodded.

Yes. Way to go, Nellie. I though you were supposed to be my best friend.

Elvora looked towards me, still looking entirely too smug for my taste. "So, Daelia? What do you say?" Even her voice sounded smug.

She knew I would say no.

Which is why I said, "Fine."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

When I woke up in the morning, what I'd done finally hit me full force.

I was going to try to get Sirius Black to date me. Exclusively. For two months. By seventh year, I had to have this done, and Elvora couldn't have it done before me.

Well, I knew that Sirius didn't like Elvora very much, so that part didn't worry me.

It was the 'exclusive' part. Even if I could get Sirius to stay with me for two months, there was no way he would do it without going off to shag someone else.

Because we weren't allowed to shag him, either.

Which, don't get me wrong, was perfectly fine with me, considering I would never do that with him, but I knew how much harder that would make it.

Lily had even had the nerve to make a list of rules for this bet, and even made us sign a contract. It wasn't very professional, but she had come up with it on the spot and written it in less than five minutes.

_By the end of seventh year, one of the two of you, Daelia Elena Eckhart and Elvora Cherston Hardsgrove, must have been in an exclusive relationship with Sirius Orion Black for two months with no shagging, blackmail, potions or spells. Sirius Orion Black may not be told about this arrangement. The winner must be paid thirty galleons, and if Miss Daelia Elena Eckhart is to win, Miss Elvora Cheston Hardsgrove must agree to anything Miss Daelia Elena Eckhart tells and/or orders her to do for two weeks. If Miss Elvora Cherston Eckhart is to win, then Miss Daelia Elena Eckhart must do anything Miss Elvora Cherston Eckhart tells and/or orders her to do. Whoever accomplishes this task first wins._

At the bottom, she had us both sign our names. Elvora still looked smug, though not as much as when she thought I would say no, I noted with satisfaction.

But now that I was sitting across from him at the Gryffindor table while I ate toast and McGonagall went around, checking and giving us our schedules, I couldn't believe that I'd agreed to this.

Elvora was shamelessly throwing herself at him while he dutifully ignored her, opting to talk to James and Alice instead.

I didn't think that Elvora would win. But it's not like I can see the future.

Elvora may be a bitch that gets off on other people's misery, but she's clever and cunning, and sometimes I'm surprised that she wasn't placed in Slytherin. There's always a chance that she could find a loophole, find a way around those rules.

At least I had until the end of seventh year. There was no way I was ready to do this now.

When McGonagall came to us, I learned that I had the exact same schedule as Black, other than the fact that I took Ancient Runes and he didn't.

Oh, Merlin.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, Elvora had most of those classes too.

Although she hadn't passed Herbology. That made me happier than I'd like to admit.

**Review. Do it. I've already got over half of this story written. (Doesn't mean it's typed though...) Give me enough reviews telling me to post them, and you get them. REVIEW. I see the hits. As of now, there have been 96 hits. And you want to know how many reviews I've gotten? ONE. Go review. Please. **

**HEYYYY. Does anyone want a beta? Because I would really like to be one. I mean, I already am, but it would be nice for another story. I get back very quickly, and I like to edit. (Just not my own stuff, because, you know, I've already written it and never like to go over it again because then I'll end up changing the whole thing.)**


	4. Worst

**You people epically fail at reviewing. And yes, I beg for reviews. I'm not doing yet, because this is only the third chapter, but I like reviews. Everyone on this site does. At least, I think everyone does. Everyone _should_, in my opinion. Whatever. Ignore me.**

**And just to let you know, we had this huge storm last week that knocked out our internet. And we still haven't gotten it back. And now there's supposed to be another storm tonight, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I go to my friend's house a lot, and she has wireless, so if you guys review, then maybe you can get the next chapter faster. . .**

**

* * *

****Chapter 3: Worst  
**

The next two months were literally the most boring of my life. I was still convinced that there was no way in hell that Sirius could ever stay faithful for two months, let alone be with _me_ for two months.

Elvora, on the other hand, was convinced that he would realize that he wanted to be with her forever and then they'd ride off into the sunset together.

Too bad she hadn't yet realized that he wanted nothing to do with her.

Oddly enough, although he was his usual flirting, charming self, I hadn't seen him snogging anyone. He didn't even seem to be expressing any real interest in anyone.

When I pointed this out to Nellie, she said, "Okay, I'm stating the obvious here, Dae, but that makes it _easier_ for you."

"No, it just makes me more confused."

She rolled her eyes, and Lily decided to join the conversation. "You're always confused, Dae."

I glared at her for a moment, and was just about to respond when I heard a deep voice behind me say, "Not when it comes to muffins, she's not. She clearly knows that she loves them. And that they're fun to throw at people."

Stupid irritating Sirius Black. "Okay. Once in first year. And. . . Again in third year. And twice in fourth year. And. . ." I sighed and turned around on the couch to face him. "I _have_ done that a lot, haven't I? It's quite enjoyable."

He smirked. "Well maybe if you stopped throwing muffins at me, I'd stop calling you Muffin."

My eyes narrowed. "Making me chose between my passion of throwing muffins at your face and that stupid nickname is just cruel, Sirius."

He barked out a laugh. Which is ironic because, you know, he's a dog. But I'll explain that later. "Passion? I didn't know throwing things in my face was so special to you."

I shrugged. "Well, you know. It's a nice pastime."

He was about to respond when James, who was across the common room, called out to him. He smiled at me and said, "Duty calls."

"Yes, duty to torture a few Slytherins."

His smile widened. "You almost sound approving."

I ginned mischievously. "Maybe I am."

He shook his head a little and walked over to James, who was with Remus and Peter. I turned around so that I was facing Lily and Nellie again, who were both looking at me with their eyebrows raised.

"What?" I asked hesitantly.

Lily looked at me incredulously. "You're not very bright when it comes to him, are you, Dae?"

I scowled. "I have many responses to that, none of which are nice. Almost all of which involve James. So instead of me shouting them out to the whole common room, why don't you explain?"

She sighed. "Daelia, you don't need to even _try_ to get Sirius. I mean, seriously, he takes away is James time just to talk to you. You're the only one he's bothered to come up with a nickname for, he actually seeks you out so he can talk to you. And. . . You don't see the way he looks at you."

I snorted and shook my head. "He loves to bother me, almost as much as he loves planning pranks. He gave me a nickname because I throw muffins in his face, and he continues to use that nickname because it bothers me. He seeks me out so he can _bother_ me. Sensing a pattern here?"

"I notice that you ignored that last part."

I rolled my eyes. "He stares at me so he can BOTHER me. Merlin, you people are insane."

Nellie raised her eyebrows at me while Lily just stared. "Merlin, why are you so damn stubborn! Dae, shouldn't you be _happy_ about this? It makes it that much easier for you to win the bet. You can get him to date you, easy."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can get him to not go off and snog someone else. And you seem to be forgetting the fact that I don't _want_ to date him! I don't even _like_ him."

Lily snorted. "Sure you don't." She said sarcastically.

"Look, even if you don't want to date him, it'll be easy." Nellie said.

"And I'm pretty sure you'll be fine with the whole exclusive thing." Lily added. I sent her an angry but questioning stare, but she chose to ignore me.

"And the sooner you get him, the sooner you get this all over with."

I sighed. For once in my life, I had no argument.

And I've always got an argument. Really, hardly anyone can ever beat me in a verbal fight. I've always got some comeback or way to disprove the other person. It's kind of a. . . specialty of mine, I guess.

But they were right. I had to man-up (figuratively) and get it over with. Then I could put it all behind me and pretend I never even knew a Sirius Black.

But something both Nellie and Lily said has always stuck with me.

I've always tried to tell myself that I don't like Sirius Black. Yes, in first, second, and third years, I really did hate him. And then everything happened, and I couldn't bring myself to hate him anymore, although that didn't mean that I liked him.

But I had to admit, that by the time I made that bet, I didn't mind him too much.

I'm not sure when that happened, when I actually decided that he could be worth my time.

Of course, there was no way I would ever want to be friends with him. The Marauders awarded themselves too much attention, and I've always tried to hide from the spotlight.

But somehow, it always manages to find me.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

When I woke up the next day, I knew something was going to happen. I don't know how I knew, or what it was, but I knew that something was going to happen. And that it wasn't going to be good.

It happened when we were at lunch. I was sitting between James and Alice, while Lily, Sirius, and Nellie sat across from us. Mary and Remus were in the library, apparently trying to help Peter with his Potions essay. The one that was due in about two hours.

"So, Peter really needs both of them to help?" I asked, an eyebrow raised and an amused tone in my voice.

"Well, you'd be surprised at how much help Peter needs." James said pleasantly.

I thought for a moment, then said, "You know, I think we should make bets on those two, too. Remus and Mary, I mean."

"Well, I say that since they're both so shy, it'll take about. . . three months." Sirius said. Everyone started placing their bets, and I was just about to say that I honestly thought that Remus would end up with Nellie when the whole Great Hall went silent.

I followed everyone else's gaze to the doors, and my stomach dropped.

Evangeline. And Marcus. They were here.

McGonagall and Dumbledore were right behind them, and Professor McGonagall started walking straight towards me.

"I'm sorry, Daelia. But your sister and her husband have requested that you be taken of Hogwarts, and they're your legal guardians. . . There's nothing we can do." She looked more distraught then I'd ever seen, and I knew that she had tried her best.

I sat, staring blankly for a few moments.

The truth was, I'd known this was coming. Of course, I'd known something was going to happen today, but I'd had no idea that it would be _this_.

Marcus and Evangeline hated me, and didn't want me to be happy. Hogwarts was about the only thing that made me happy, so they had to take it away. It was that simple.

I finally stood up, knowing that all eyes were on me, and tried to smile at my friends, although I'm sure it came out as a grimace.

And then, I turned my back and walked out.

**Yes. I know. Short chapter. But the next one is already typed, so just go and press that button down there that has the review word in it. . . It really isn't hard. Next chapter is when you get some explanations about Daelia. **

**R. E. V. E. I. W.**

**And if you alert or favorite, I like you too, I just like you better if you review.  
**


	5. Can't Save Me Now

**This. . .This chapter is horrible. I'm practically ashamed of it. Actually, no. . . I _am _ashamed of it. **

**

* * *

****Chapter 4: Can't Save Me Now  
**

Those next few weeks were probably the worst I'd ever suffered with Marcus and Evangeline.

The summers have always been bad, even before Evangeline moved out and got married to Marcus. Evangeline has always been determined to make me miserable, and her determination has grown since she met Marcus.

Her methods have also 'improved.'

When Mom was still alive, she hardly noticed how Evangeline's hatred for me grew every year.

Evangeline is the squib in our family. Honestly, she's not exactly a squib, considering our family isn't pureblood, and my mom was actually muggleborn, but Evangeline has always hated me because I have the magic that she doesn't, because I get to go off to some fancy school while she's stuck at home.

In the beginning, it was just small things, like breaking things and blaming it on me, hiding Mom's keys and telling her that I had them, things like that. But it started to progress, especially as Mom started staying hospital more and more. She would shove me into a closet and block off the door, lock me out of the house, hide any food that I could possibly find.

When she'd gotten married, I'd thought I was finally free.

And then Mom died, and I was stuck with them.

Marcus was a muggle, but Evangeline told him about our family. He liked it even less than Evangeline did.

The summer after fourth year, my first summer with them, they'd rented a cottage in Ireland because they didn't want anyone to know about me. They made sure they got one with a basement.

And for the whole summer, they locked me down there. The brought me food once every two days, shouting insults every time.

And let me tell you, that basement was _cold_. For someone who has always been smaller than average, it would be torture. But when you're smaller than average and haven't gotten any meat since you left school? I thought I was going to die.

And it didn't help when Marcus started coming down with a baseball bat, deciding it was better than risking the evidence that would be left if he used his hands.

He never hit me where it could be seen, and Evangeline was always standing right behind him, smirking, telling me that I deserved it for being such a freak.

And Lily thought that _she_ had it bad.

I never made a sound. I knew that if I did, it would just continue.

To be truthful, after not too long, I was able to block it all out. Retreat into my mind, not feel the pain, not hear what they were saying. And honestly, what they said didn't even effect me anyways. I'm not sure they realized what I was doing, but I think they did, because that was when Marcus decided that my head was just as good a target as my ribs. I knew that they were just afraid I would do something.

And at the end of the summer, I did. When Evangeline informed me that they weren't going to let me out to go to school, I knew that I needed to get out.

For such a small person, I pack a pretty decent punch. I remember punching my sister in the face and then doing the same to Marcus. While they were distracted, I ran up the stairs, grabbed my wand from its hiding place, and hightailed it out of there.

I knew that they'd find a way to get back at me, and I also had a pretty good idea what it was.

I'd found a payphone and called the Potters', who, thank Merlin, I knew had a phone. When James answered, I just told him that I needed them to come get me at the Calgarndo pub in Ireland. Even to myself, my voice sounded dead.

Less then five minutes later, Sirius showed up. He said that Mrs. Potter was getting some food ready for me and that James was getting a room ready, so they'd asked Sirius to come get me.

One look at me, and he was right in front of me, inspecting every cut. I knew I was a mess; I hadn't brushed my hair in ages, my arms were covered in bruises, and my face was covered in blood. But he hugged me, despite that, and I'm proud to say that I didn't break down.

Although there may been a few tears. But that's not considered a breakdown.

I spent a lot of time at the end of that summer with James and Sirius, who frequently suggested that I just move in with the Potters. I learned a few things about Sirius and his family, and with that came an understanding between us. Not friends, but I guess I didn't hate him anymore.

We didn't speak of it after that, not even when fifth year ended and I had to go back.

The same thing happened, except now I was only getting fed twice a week.

And that time, I managed to get a hold of my wand.

I hexed them both and then used a stunning spell so that I could escape. I went to the Potter's house for a few days, and they made sure to go back and. . . unstun them? After about a week, I decided to get a room at the Leaky Cauldron. Considering I was at the Potter's house for a week, I feel pretty stupid for not noticing that Sirius was _living_ there.

But I knew that Evangeline and Marcus were going to want payback. And what better way than to take me away from the only thing that made me happy? They knew that I'd always looked forward to going back to Hogwarts.

No one knew about what they really did to me. Sure, Sirius and the Potters knew bad things happened, but it's not like they had any proof. They couldn't get me out, and even Dumbledore, (Who I really think knows everything) couldn't find a way to get me away from them. Evangeline was the only family that I had left, so therefore she was my legal guardian.

And she had all control over my life.

So now here I was, in this stupid basement in this stupid cottage again, instead of being with my friends at Hogwarts.

_Well, at least I only have to last until I'm seventeen. _I thought wryly to myself.

Which means that while it is now the middle of November, I have to wait until April.

And when you're with this 'family?' That's a _very_ long time.

People have always said that I'm strong, that I'm too stubborn to ever give up. That I'll always fight.

I used to believe them.

Now? Now, I'm not so sure.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

"So, how does it feel, eh? Not so fun to get beat up by someone who shouldn't be touching you, is it?"

Marcus had been going on like this for hours, punctuating each rant with a few hits from the baseball bat. (Hehe. Even when I'm going totally insane, I can still rhyme without trying to. _That_ is what we call skill.)

I knew that this was technically my fault, considering I was the one that had used my wand on him over the summer, but really, can you blame me?

When this first started, I promised myself that I wasn't going to become one of those pathetic girls who believed every bad word someone said to them just because they were abused. I wasn't going to be one of those girls who believes she deserves it, who believes that there's nothing she can do.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do yet, but I always come up with something.

Meanwhile, I would have to take it.

But I wasn't going to take it like a good little girl. I have too much pride for that.

And too much stupidity, I guess.

When Marcus finally decided to leave me alone for the night, I found my way over to the corner, since it was the warmest place in this basement that I'd ever been able to find. And then I thought about how the bloody hell I was going to get out of here.

They kept the door at the top of the stairs locked, and considering it's a basement, there aren't any windows. And even if I was to escape, they could just come and find me again, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I had absolutely no control over my life until the twenty-third of April.

Unless, of course, the ministry were to find out about this. . .

I knew that the magical world had some of the same laws as the muggle. The obvious things such as no homicide or breaking & entering or trespassing. So if they found out about something like this, there was no way that they could let me continue living here.

Now, how I was going to make sure they knew, I had no idea. And I would say that I could worry about it tomorrow, except I couldn't. I was pretty sure a few of my ribs were broken, and that meant that there could be possible internal bleeding. Not to mention the fact that I was extremely dehydrated.

And, you know, I was hungry. Like, _really_ hungry.

Mmm, I could really use a cranberry muffin right now. Those have always been, like. . . My undoing.

Damn. Muffins. Black. Bet.

. . . Hire someone to strangle Elvora?

Hey, at least then it would look like a muggle murder. And I'm locked up in a basment. How could sweet, innocent, _trapped_ little Daelia have arranged for something like that?

No? Too far-fetched? Yeah, I guess so.

But whatever keeps me going, right?

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

For the next three weeks, I endured the torture. I threw at least one snide comment every day, even if I knew it would make it worse, but I never got any farther in my plan to alert the ministry. I didn't have my wand, my owl was still at school, and I hadn't yet learned how to apparate.

It saddened me to think of that; If I was still at Hogwarts, I would probably be learning how to do that by now. The lessons were supposed to have started about two weeks after I 'left.'

Sometimes I wondered what Professor Dumbledore had told my friends. I knew that Sirius and James would know the truth, and maybe even Lily, but other than that, everyone else would just assume that I'd wanted to leave or something.

Honestly, I wanted to know what he had told them. I'm not exactly 'popular' or whatever those muggles call it, but having a connection to James has made me quite well known.

Not to mention the whole getting a nickname from Sirius Black thing.

Which reminds me. . . (Again)

I wonder if I'd be excused from the bet, considering I'm locked in a basement right now. But no, of course not, Elvora would never let me do that. She'd probably find some sick satisfaction if she knew what was going on right now.

Which was why I was still contemplating the whole hiring-someone-to-strangle-her thing.

Sadistic, you say?

Yeah. I can't really even try to deny it, can I?

I briefly considered screaming for help, but I knew that it wouldn't work. It was another reason Marcus and Evangeline had decided to rent a cottage in Ireland; The nearest neighbor was at least a mile away.

No one to hear you scream. No one to help you.

I was slowly coming to terms with the fact that I was trapped.

I wasn't giving up, no, but I'd figured out that I wasn't going to get out of here with a snap decision. I was going to need a plan, and I was going to need _help_.

Except the only people I was in contact with were Marcus and Evangeline, and neither of them was going to help me. I almost starting laughing hysterically at just the thought.

At some point, I even considered asking Evangeline for help. It would be easy; She was always the one that brought down the food, most of the time without Marcus. But I knew that she would never help me. Everything that was happening? It was her fault. She'd told Marcus what I was and planted all those false ideas in his mind of how dangerous I was. (Okay, so maybe I'm a _teeny_ bit dangerous, but they didn't know that.) Granted, I probably made things worse by not being able to keep my mouth shut, but that was to be expected. Keeping my mouth shut has never been my forte, nor will it ever be my forte. I don't think before I speak; It's just the way I am.

I heard the door creep open and shrunk back into the corner, hoping that it was just Evangeline bringing me some food.

But I knew it wasn't. I'd been fed yesterday. Which meant no food today.

Marcus walked down the stairs, and even through the shadows I could see the sneer on his face. Evangeline was right behind him, as usual, but I noticed that she had blood running down the corner of her mouth, and a bruise that looked suspiciously like many of mine right under her eye.

As Marcus advanced on me with a smirk, I thought that maybe there was still some hope for my sister.

And maybe some hope for getting me some muffins. . .

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Marcus didn't come down the next day. I could have sworn that I heard screaming upstairs, but that might have just been wishful thinking.

I don't mean to sound like a heartless bitch, because I'm not. I care about my sister, even if she hates me. (Which she does.) But my sister is the one that chose this. Granted, she might not have known what would happen when she went into it, but she was staying, wasn't she? She was letting her husband beat the only family that she had left.

I spent the day planning.

I guess it could also be called plotting, but in my opinion that's always seemed a bit too evil for me. True, I have my evil moments, but when you've got the war with Voldemort going on and you're trapped in this place, evil is an understatement. During these days, no one can call themselves evil.

Unless they work for Voldemort.

Or unless they're Slytherins.

I had no idea if this was going to work, but at this point, I was really out of options. I figured, really, there was no way following through with this was going to make anything worse.

Then again, what the bloody hell do I know?

When I heard the door at the top of the stairs open, I took a deep breath to prepare myself. I didn't exactly have what I was going to say planned out, but I've always been better at coming up with things right on the spot. Less chance of messing it up or veering off course that way.

Evangeline came down the steps, and in the faint light streaming in from the door I noticed that the bruise on her face had worsened.

She walked over to me silently, not even glancing at me, and set the tray down in front of me. (Tomato soup and a piece of wheat bread. Careful there, dear sister, or people might actually start to think you care about my nutrients.)

As she turned around and started back towards the stairs, I finally spoke. "You don't need to deal with it, you know." In the silent basement, my voice sounded immensely loud. Evangeline froze, so I continued. "It's hard, yeah, but better than being here. With _him_. People escape all the time. And I know someone that could help you." I was thinking of Dumbledore, but she didn't need to know that.

She was breathing heavily. "You don't know anything, Daelia." She said harshly, turning around to face me.

I just raised an eyebrow. "Don't I? Evie," I said, using the nickname that I hadn't used since before out mother died, "You know what he does to me. Doesn't that ever scare you? Haven't you ever thought about the fact that he could just as easily do this," I motioned to myself, "To you?" She was glaring at me, but not with any real malice, and I could see her eyes flash in fear. I continued, talking with much more emotion now. I _needed_ her to understand. "Evie, he hurts me all the time. I'm your _sister_, Evie. I know you hate me, but Mom wouldn't have wanted this. She loved us both. And she would hate to see someone doing this to me _or_ you." I saw her fists clench at the mention of Mom.

_Good, _I thought. _That means it's working. _

"Evie, if he does this to me every day, think about what he could do to you. If you just said one wrong word, he could kill you. And you know it."

I was staring straight at her, but Evangeline had her eyes closed. Although it was dark, I thought I could see a few tears rolling slowly down her face. I felt a bit guilty for a few seconds, but reprimanded myself. This was what was _supposed_ to happen.

"He's an abusive prat, Evie, and you know it. I can-"

"You don't know _anything_, Dae!" She suddenly burst out. I jumped, shocked that she'd decided to speak. But she was shaking, and I could see her composure breaking. "He gives me a house, Daelia. And all the money I want. He got me away from _you_." I expected her voice to me much harsher when she said that last part, but she almost sounded. . . resigned.

"Evie. . . You don't know what he's going to do to you." I whispered. "And. . . I'm the last of your family, Evie. Why would you want him to do this to me?"

I stayed silent for the next few minutes, hoping that this would work.

Finally, she spoke. "I. . . I don't know." She looked at me and hesitated before speaking again. "I guess. . . It's just that. . . I always wanted to go away to a boarding school. And then some guy comes and tells us that all along you've been the odd one because you can do _magic_. I guess. . .I think that I resented you for that. And then Marcus said there was an easy way to put you in your place. . ." Her eyes widened. "Oh, God. I can't believe that I let this happen."

I smiled softly, even though my insides were doing the conga. "You can still stop it, Evie. I can help you."

I sat there and waited for what I'm pretty sure was close to ten minutes, waiting for her reply.

Finally, she sighed. "I know you're right, Dae. We. . . We have to get out of here."

Unfortunately, this was the time that Marcus decided to make his (usually) daily visit.

I shot Evangeline a warning look, and she nodded almost imperceptibly as Marcus walked up to me, ready to inflict his usual torture.

Except this time, it wasn't the usual torture.

He didn't even say anything. He just kept hitting me, over and over and over again. I tried to ignore it, think about something else, but this time, it was impossible. He was hitting harder than usual, and excruciating pain suddenly erupted in my abdomen.

And excruciating is not something you can ignore.

Unbidden tears formed in my eyes, and no matter how hard I tried to stop them, they started falling down my face in rapid succession. And he just continued, as I screamed out in agony for the first time since this had all started.

And then. . . Then I saw the baseball bat right above my head. It slowly came down, closer and closer, and then the world went black.

**I know. Horrible, horrible chapter. I'm severely disappointed in myself. But it was kind of needed for this huge plot thing later on. I thought about totally removing this chapter, but then I would have to rewrite a bunch of chapters, and I didn't want to do that. . . I'm sorry. Feel free to tell me how much you hate this chapter. But there's some Sirius/Daelia action next chapter! :) So even if you're going to say something mean, you can still review.  
**


	6. Humans Were Not Made to be Pillows

**Just remember that this is rated T. As in Teen. As in there are mentions of sex and there is language. Mmkay? **

**Quite the long chapter, this one. And I hope that you think it's much better than the last one.  
**

**

* * *

****Chapter 5: Humans Were Not Made to be Pillows  
**

When I first woke up, I wasn't entirely sure where I was. My head was pounding, it was dark, and I couldn't take any deep breaths without sharp pain.

After a few minutes, I could feel hands feathering along near my ribs. I racked my eyes open. "Evangeline?" I flinched at how raspy my voice sounded.

My sister smiled hurriedly at me. "I'm going to fix you up the best I can right now, Dae, and then we're getting the hell outta here." I smiled tiredly at her. "But we have to do this fast, before Marcus gets back. And then maybe we can go to the crazy professor of yours. The one with the kooky pointy hat and the huge beard, yeah?"

I smiled again, closing my eyes. "Yeah. Okay."

"And then they can fix you up. A lot better than I can." She continued silently for a few minutes; I assumed that she was wrapping my ribs up. When she was done, she walked quickly back up the stairs and when she came back down, she was holding a glass of water and some white pills. She handed them to me, and I glanced at the pills warily. Evangeline chuckled wearily. "They're just aspirin, Daelia. Not poison."

I gave her a wry smile. "Sorry. Instinct." I put the pills in my mouth and downed the glass of water.

Evangeline waited for me to finish the water, and then reached a hand out to me to haul me up. "Come on. We have to go before Marcus gets back from work. I packed some of my clothes and all the money I could find. . ." She suddenly stopped and froze, and for a second I thought maybe Marcus was already home. But then she turned back to me with a suspicious expression. "Do you have any idea how we're getting to that school of yours?"

I laughed. "Don't worry. There are plenty of ways that I can contact them."

And then we left. And the best part? Evangeline didn't even look back.

And I was going back to Hogwarts.

Besides. I had a bet to win.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

We walked to the bus station. Evangeline had wanted to use a rental car, but I told her that we needed to be discreet, not leave a paper trail.

We spent the night on three different trains, making our way to London. When we got to the final train station, I found a pay phone and called the Potters.

Mrs. Potter frantic, assuring us that she and Mr. Potter would be here as quickly as possible.

Now, they may be purebloods, but it was situations like these that I was immensely grateful that Mrs. Potter had wanted to make sure they blended into the muggle world and that she'd wanted James to know things about it. I'd grown up with muggle things, because my mother had been muggleborn and Evangeline was a muggle, too. The Potters had the simple things like a phone, a television, and a car.

And within the hour, Evangeline and I were in that car, on the way back to the Potter Manor. Mrs. Potter sat in the back and healed me the entire ride, and even then she could only heal my face. She said that although she was good with household spells, she wanted to be sure she didn't screw anything up and said that I should wait until I could see Madam Pomfrey.

She also said that Evangeline could stay with them as long as was needed, and that it might be a good idea if I found Dumbledore once I got back to Hogwarts and told him to come to the Potters' house and help Evangeline.

I made sure that Evangeline was okay with all of this, and then I flooed straight to Hogwarts. At first. I started thinking that the security must not be very good, but then I remembered that the Potters were very good friends with Dumbledore, so of course they would have a direct floo connection.

In a fireplace.

I'd always thought that was strange, no matter how many times I'd had to use it or how many other strange things I'd seen.

I got slightly nauseous as I spun in circles, which usually didn't happen, so I assumed that it was probably because my insides were still a little messed up.

And then I was in the floor, coughing up ash, right inside McGonagall's office.

"Goodness, child, what in the world are you doing?"

"Uh. . . Trying not to swallow any more ash."

She looked at me reprovingly. "Yes, and meanwhile you're getting it all over my carpet." Her eyes widened as she took in my state and she seemed to forget about the fact that I was destroying her precious carpet. "Oh, dear. . ." She whispered. "We need to get you to Poppy."

I'm not entirely sure how she knew that I needed the Hospital Wing, considering I was almost sure that Mrs. Potter had removed all the bruises from my face. But I ignored that and tried to focus on standing up. Apparently, that little floo adventure had taken more out of me then I'd originally thought. My legs ached and didn't want to support my weight, and I'd fallen onto my ribs. I couldn't take any deep breaths without feeling like something was poking my lungs. Something _sharp_.

So, yeah. I should probably get to the hospital wing.

Suddenly there were strong arms lifting me up, standing me on my feet. I turned around, startled, and came face-to-face with none other than Sirius Black.

Too shocked to think of anything insulting or scathing, I just said, "What the hell?"

He smirked, as per usual, but I noticed that his eyes were tightened with worry. "Prongs and I got stuck here for detention tonight." I turned my head a bit to see James standing in the middle of the room, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open.

"Shut your mouth, Potter, it's not like I don't fall out of _your_ fireplace every now and then." His mouth closed, but he continued to stare at me with wide eyes. I rolled my eyes. "Speaking of which, mommy and daddy send their love."

He finally responded by raising an eyebrow. "You came from my house?"

"Well, duh, it's not like we've got any floo powder at _my_ house." I paused and pursed my lips. "Well, that stupid cottage." I corrected.

I heard a sigh from behind me, and it was then that I noticed that Sirius' arms were still around me. "As much as I hate to interrupt this beautiful reunion, I think Daelia needs to go to the hospital wing." Ah. So he'd noticed that I'd flinched every time he moved his arms.

But the fact that he's called me Daelia. . . I don't think that he'd called me by my real name since sometime in third year.

"Mr. Black is quite right. I shall go inform Albus. Mr. Black, please escort Miss Eckhart to the Hospital Wing." James opened his mouth to say something, but McGonagall cut him off. "You, Mr. Potter, can stay here and finish your detention." I knew that James wanted to argue, but he took one look at me, sighed, and then nodded mutely. "Good." McGonagall said briskly, walking out.

I stared after her for a few seconds before Sirius said into my ear, "Let's go, Muffin. I don't need you passing out on me."

As we started waling down the corridor, I couldn't help but admit that it reassured me that he was calling me Muffin again. I may hate the nickname, but if he was still teasing, then I knew the world wasn't about to come to a tragic end.

I think my head may be a bit messed up today. Although being melodramatic, even if it's just in my head, is quite fun.

"What're you thinking about so hard, Muffin?"

I smiled dreamily. "Just that I don't think the world is going to end today." Then my smile turned into a frown. "And that since you keep mentioning it, you're really making me want a cranberry muffin."

He laughed. "Well, sorry about that, but I don't think we've got too many muffins at the moment."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, and I found it strangely calming.

But, of course, I had to go and ruin it. There was absolutely nothing there, but somehow I managed to trip over my own two (relatively small) feet. The only reason I didn't fall flat on my face was because Black grabbed me around the middle. I yelped as he hit all the sensitive spots, and he hauled me back up before quickly taking his hands off. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Damn. They really did a number on you, didn't they?"

His eyes weren't filled with pity, like most people's would be. No, his were filled with understanding. I thought I could see a little worry, too, but I had a feeling that it was just a trick of the light. I sighed, saying, "Let's just get to the hospital wing, Black. Then you can leave me alone."

He rolled his eyes as he put an arm back around my waist, being careful not to hit any bruises. "You know, you must be extremely malnourished, Eckhart. You've always been light, but I'm practically dragging you down this hallway and I feel like you're a sack of potatoes." He commented.

"Gee, thanks. I've always wanted to be compared to a bag of lumpy vegetables." I replied sarcastically.

He grinned. "At least I wasn't comparing you to a watermelon."

I stayed silent a moment, studying him, then said, "Why do I get the feeling that you mean that in a perverted way?"

His grin widened. "Maybe because you secretly want it to be." He teased.

I rolled my eyes. "I have not missed you, Black. And if I secretly wanted it to be perverted, then I would be upset by the fact that you _didn't _call me watermelon."

"Maybe you are. 'Snot like I'm a mind reader."

"Git."

"Keeping it simple today, are we?"

I glared at him, my happy/slightly nutter mood gone. He always had a response, didn't he?

That's okay. I've always got one, too.

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not sure I'm up for really insulting you tonight. Besides, I'm still not sure that your sex clouded brain can handle any words that are bigger than 'git,' 'prat,' or 'wanker.' Actually. . .I don't think you understand that last one either."

He scowled, although his trademark smirk somehow managed to remain in place. "Sex clouded brain?" He repeated. "Just because you're not getting any, Eckhart, doesn't mean that you can fantasize about what I think about."

I scowled, too, although I wasn't smirking. "Please. And I'm sorry, I didn't know that it was a crime to not want to shag everything that moves and has nice legs. I also didn't know that it was a crime to be a virgin."

His eyes widened for a moment, but then he contained his shock and raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You're a virgin?"

I smirked. "No. Why? Fantasizing, Black?" He turned a glare my way and was about to respond when I said cheerfully, "Oh, look, it's the Hospital Wing. Thanks for the help, Black. You can go now." And then I walked into the Hospital Wing, totally ignoring him. If I had looked back, I would have noticed that his face looked completely shocked.

. . . Okay. So yeah. I looked back. It was quite amusing, really.

But this was how Sirius and I were. We had a mutual understanding, and there were even times when we _almost_ got along, but we were both too stubborn and hotheaded to go more than ten minutes without an argument. We always had that underlying fury for each other, and that was never going to go away, no matter what he 'saved' me from, no matter how much we helped one another.

Not that we ever help each other.

When the door closed, I jumped at how loud it was. For the past three weeks, I'd been subjected to just my own brain for company.

And that's enough to drive anyone nutters. Believe me. It's bad enough when we're at school, where I've got plenty of people to distract me. Left alone with my thoughts? Well, there was that whole hire someone to strangle Elvora thing. . . I might still be contemplating that. . . cough cough. . . cough. . .

"Can I help you, Miss Eckhart?"

I smiled sheepishly at Madam Pomfrey. "Yeah, er, well, I need some fixing up."

She sighed and motioned me over. I think she knew what had happened; no doubt Dumbledore would have told her. I swear, that man knows everything that goes on. He must have known that I would make my way back.

"I swear, you're in here every month."

I grinned at her. "I am. You know what they say, Poppy, poor Daelia Eckhart can never watch where her own two foot step."

Yes. I have a confession. I am a klutz. Demonstrated almost every week of my life.

Of course, these bruises weren't from that, but who needs to know? Everyone will buy the excuse that I tripped down the stairs. It's really common knowledge that I can hardly walk without running into someone. Gotten into quite a few brawls over it, actually.

I blame the Slytherins. It's always them. When in doubt, you blame them. They're the Slytherins. Of course it's there fault.

Okay. That was a little mean. Blame the wannabe Death Eaters. Yeah. That works even better.

Anyways, Madame Pomfrey was muttering things the whole times as she administered potion after potion to me. I refused to take a sleeping potion, no matter how much she insisted. I also refused to stay at the Hospital Wing overnight.

Of course, I hate the Hospital Wing, but I really just wanted to get out of there so that I could see Lily and Nellie. And I was even excited to see James.

And I had a bet to go win.

I couldn't wait to see the look on Elvora's face when she realized that the big bad Daelia Eckhart had returned to Hogwarts.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

"Of course." I muttered to myself as I stalked down the corridor. "When I finally get back, it just _has_ to be in the middle of dinner. . ." Which meant that I was going to have to walk into the Great Hall while everyone was there.

How fun.

At least it wasn't the Halloween feast. That would be. . . terrifying. And I've had more than my share of terrifying.

As I've said, I try to avoid the spotlight. There are times when I can't, being 'friends,' and I use the term loosely, with the Marauders, but I try to stay away from them unless we're in the common room.

And when I was about five feet away from the Great Hall, Elvora came barreling down the stairs. The doors to the Hall were open, so practically everyone heard what was said. The fact that Elvora was screeching her lungs out.

"You bitch! If you leave, you lose the bet. You can't just show up again! And then before you leave you totally ransack my part of the dormitory! I don't even want to know why you were doing that, you pervert!" And then she stomped off.

All eyes were on me, which I guess was to be expected after that little outburst.

"Way to make a grand entrance." I muttered as I walked over to the Gryffindor table. Some of the Ravenclaws I was passing laughed, breaking the silence and the tension of the whole school.

"DAELIA!" My vision was blocked, and all I saw was red.

"Lily," I said after spitting some of her hair out of my mouth, "You can let go now."

She hugged me tighter. "I can't believe you're back! Sirius said he'd seen you, but we weren't sure when we would get to see you again."

"No, Lily, seriously, you need to let go." I said, quite rightly shocked about the fact that she had just called Black by his first name. I mean, I do, sometimes, but not to other_ people_. That's just. . . Not right.

"Why?" She asked, her voice muffled.

"Because, I just had my ribs healed, and I don't need you breaking any more."

She laughed and pulled back, reminding me of how much taller she was.

Everyone is taller than me. It's a simple fact that I've gotten used to.

I could still remember first year. I'd always been small at primary school, but I'd never noticed just how much smaller I was until I got to Hogwarts.

_The line was going too slow for me; I wanted to know if I was going to end up in evil Slytherin or reject Hufflepuff. Only two people had gone so far, one of which to Hufflepuff and the other to Gryffindor. I couldn't even see the stage._

"_Having trouble, Dae?"_

_I whipped around and saw James. He was smiling at me. We hadn't seen each other since last summer, and I knew that he wanted to end up in Gryffindor._

_I frowned. "What do you mean?"_

_His smiled widened, and I noticed that he had a friend standing next to him, looking amused. "Daelia, haven't you noticed that you're the shortest person in the school?"_

"_I am not!" I said indignantly, beginning to search the line of other first years. After about ten seconds, I realized that it was useless and sighed sadly. "I really am, aren't I?"_

_James was still smiling as he pat me on the head, but I noticed that his friend looked really nervous, though I had no idea why. This was fun, even if it was taking entirely too long for my taste._

_And then the professor said, "Black, Sirius!" And James' friend strode up to the stage, looking defiant now._

Even at eleven, I knew big words. I bet you didn't. (Imagine me sticking my tongue out right here.)

Of course, these days, I had a lot nastier things to say about the Slytherins, but that's not the point.

James, Nellie, Alice, Remus, and Mary were all standing right behind her, all waiting for their turns to hug me. I fought them all off, claiming that I'd fallen out of the fireplace the wrong way when I'd flooed here. Black shot me an amused look, but didn't comment. We all sat down at the table, and, ironically enough, the only seat left for me was squeezed right in between Black and James.

Murder me, please?

Okay. I'm not suicidal. But you would be saying that too if you were stuck into between these two.

Thankfully, none of them asked why I'd disappeared and suddenly reappeared. I suspected that that had something to do with something Black might have said to them; I could see the burning curiosity in their eyes, especially Lily and Alice.

To be truthful, not even Lily and Nellie know the extent of what happens with Marcus. The only people that really know are James and Sirius, although I suspect that they might have told Remus, just because he's their best mate. (Other than each other, that is.)

"Oh, thank Merlin." I said as I finally saw the food. I piled plenty of it on my plate, especially potatoes, while they all watched me in amusement. I even considered grabbing some of the chicken but decided against it, considering I've been a vegetarian since second year.

"What?" I asked through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Er, Daelia, are you trying to eat your own weight in food?" James asked.

"And don't say that's not your own weight, because remember, I carried you up to the Hospital Wing not too long ago. And you don't weigh much more than that plate right there, love." Sirius added.

I scowled at them as I shoveled food down my mouth.

"Merlin, Daelia, one would think you hadn't eaten anything since you left." Alice commented after a few minutes.

I really wanted to say, _Well, yes, I have, but too often. And it wasn't even _real _food. _But I kept silent and started shoveling down some tart.

After a few minutes of mindless chatter, Nellie, sounding entirely too amused, asked, "So, Dae, what was all that about you searching through Elvora's trunk for her knickers?"

I snorted. "Please. If I was going to search through anyone's trunk, it would be Lily's." I said, smirking at her. "We all know no matter how innocent she acts, she's got a naughty side. It's always the innocent ones."

Lily blushed a bit and glared at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Alright, you caught me, I'd be looking through James' trunk. Except, you know, not for his knickers. I see those things enough over the summer."

"Which ones?" Black, asked, playing along. "The ones that say 'I heart my Lily-flower'?"

My smirk grew. "No, the ones that say, 'Lily Evans belongs to James Potter.' And then there are those ones that involve James wanting to see Lily in a pretty little black thong. . ."

James smacked the back of my head while Black and I laughed. Lily's blush was much deeper now, and I felt quite accomplished.

Now all I had to do was win a bet.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Everyone in Gryffindor tower cheered when I finally walked in, with James and Black on my heels.

We'd just come back from Dumbledore's office, where I told him what had happened. I didn't even need to ask him to help Evangeline, he just told me that he'd get over to the Potters as soon as we left.

I'm not sure why Black and James had felt the need to come with me, and when Dumbledore asked what happened he offered to kick them out, but to be truthful, it was easier with them there. And besides, it saved me the trouble of having to explain again, because I knew that James and Black weren't going to shut up about it until I told them.

Elvora was sitting with Shannen in the corner, glaring at me. Shannen was looking utterly uninterested, just writing on a piece of parchment.

Lily, however, felt the need to jump on me again.

Which isn't good, you know, because I'm the size of a third year.

Nellie was standing behind her, giggling, while Alice and Mary stood a little farther back, staring at Lily with raised eyebrows.

The whole common room was staring at me as I awkwardly patted Lily on the back. Sirius, noticing my discomfort, yelled out, "Alright, everyone, we know, our favorite girl has returned. Get back to your books."

Everyone did as he said, though I noticed they all kept glancing furtively at me when they thought I wasn't looking.

Alice and Nellie dragged me over to the couch right in front of the fire, squishing me in between the two of them. Lily, Mary, and the Marauders, excluding Peter, all sat down on the floor in front of the fire.

They knew that I wasn't going to say anything, so no matter how much they wanted to know, they didn't mention anything about my absence. They seemed perfectly content to fill me in on what had happened, including an incident where Lily Evans herself had hexed Severus Snape.

Although I never would have told her, (Because she would have tried to hex me, too) I was quite proud. It was about time that Lily came over to our side.

"Well, Daelia, you should have fun trying to catch up." Lily mused. "We've been going over many things in Transfiguration, and you have enough trouble with Ancient Runes as it is. . . Though I guess you'll be okay for the rest of your classes. . ."

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, she should. She's better than _all_ of us at Charms. And Herbology. And Defense." His grin widened when Lily glared at him and he shifted a bit so that he was leaning back against my legs.

Lily likes to be the best at everything. And while I know that I'm extremely good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, I don't believe that I'm the best. Charms, however, is an entirely different story. Flitwick has told me many times in the past five years that I'm the most skilled Charms student that he's ever seen, and although I may have horrible luck, I've somehow managed to do incredibly well in Herbology.

I blame the books. The fact that I actually read them. . . Shudder.

Ancient Runes, on the other hand. . .

"One of you is tutoring me in Ancient Runes." I said firmly. "And. . . Probably Transfiguration." Lily opened her mouth, but I cut her off. "And if will _not_ be Lily, because she'll be an overbearing freak who will write out a schedule for me that won't let me do anything other than study."

Sirius looked up at me and smirked. "Yes. . . No time for. . . _extracurricular_ activities."

I smacked the back of his head, muttering, "Perverted git."

He pouted while Remus offered to help me with Ancient Runes. We started discussing what I'd missed a bit while James and Lily actually started to have a _civil_ conversation, (No, children. Wait until December of next year. I refuse to lose that bet.) when I finally had to interrupt Remus. "Merlin, Black, would you stop moving so much?" I said, exasperated. "If you're going to use me as a backrest, would you at least sit still?"

He frowned. "You're too bony, Muffin. Why do you have to be so small?" He complained.

I snorted. "My boniness has never stopped you from using me as a pillow before."

His frowned deepened, though his eyes were sparkling with amusement as he looked up at me. "You've always been the boniest girl I know, but it's worse this year. We need to get some meat on you, Muffin."

I snorted again. "Why? So I can be a more comfortable pillow for you?"

Remus was watching us with an adoring but amused smile on his face. I glared at him and said, "So, how are things going with Mary?" To which his response was to turn bright red and mumble something about homework that needed to be done.

"You scared him off, Muffin."

I sighed dramatically. "Now why can't I do that to you?"

**So there you go. Long chapter. So I expect you to review, since I seem to be only getting one-two reviews per chapter. Which I guess is better than nothing. . . I'm confused now. **

**But I really hope that this is better than the last chapter. And, if it is, then don't you want to review?  
**


	7. Molestors and Forgetfulness

**This is the longest chapter I've ever written. Which isn't saying much for some people who can do 11 thousand words per chapter, but since this is a little over 6 thousand, it is the longest I've ever written. Be proud.**

**And I suck at the British language. I know. **

**

* * *

****Chapter 6: Molesters and Forgetfulness  
**

It wasn't hard to get back into my old routine. I had no problems keeping up in Charms or Defense, and Professor Langor, our teacher this year for Defense Against the Dark Arts, even complimented me on how well I was doing after being gone for so long.

Honestly, Professor Langor seriously creeps me out. He does for most of the other students, too, but especially me. He's somewhere in his mid-twenties, and even I have to admit that he's not bad-looking, but he tries to flirt with seventy percent of the female population at Hogwarts.

And I seem to be his main target.

At first, I thought it was normal when he flirted with me so much. Disgusting, yes, and I ignore it while I secretly thought about hexing his you-know-whats off so he couldn't rape me, but then Lily and Sirius had both pointed out how he flirted with me much more often.

I wish I could hex a teacher without getting expelled. I really do.

I'm feeling particularly violent today.

So he comes up to me on my. . . fifth day back, I think, and stands behind me, reading the essay that we're working on in class over my shoulder. I shoot Nellie, who's sitting next to me, an uncertain glance, and then do the same for Lily, who is on my other side. They both cast Langor suspicious looks, as he murmurs into my ear, "Fine work, Miss Eckhart, _very_ fine."

And I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about my essay.

I shuddered as on of his hands found its way to my thigh as he leaned the other hand on the table. James, Sirius, and Remus, who were sitting at the table right in front of us, all turned around at the same time. I knew that my eyes were widened in alarm and that my face was probably scrunched up in disgust, and I shot them all a_ Help-me!_ glance. James and Remus looked at me, obviously confused, but Sirius seemed to understand. I saw him reaching down to get his hand, and I knew that he was planning on hexing Langor. (Whose hand was starting to go much too high to be acceptable) I widened my eyess even more and subtly shook my head. He turned around.

Fine, Black. Leave me to get molested by the creepy professor.

But then in the front of the room, Professor Langor's desk erupted in flames. He flew up and rushed over to it, frantically trying to put it out. Sirius turned around and grinned at me as I slumped back and exhaled in relief. His smug look disappeared and he looked more concerned. He opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head and turned to Nellie.

"Do you think we could hire someone to drown him in the lake?"

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Professor Langor let us out of class ten minutes after that little incident. We still had a half hour until our next class, during which James, Sirius, Peter, Nellie, Alice and I had a free period while Remus, Mary, and Lily went to Arithmancy.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sirius murmured as he caught up to me in the corridor.

"I'm fine." I replied, then winced at my choice of words. _Very fine work, Miss Eckhart._

Sirius noticed this and sighed, gripping my arm and turning me around, leading back down the corridor despite my protests. After a few minutes, I realized where he was taking me.

"The kitchens, Sirius, really? Is this part of your ploy to make me a more comfortable pillow?" I teased.

He smirked. "Maybe. Or maybe it's my way of getting you to. . . _fill out_." He didn't take his gaze away from my face, but I knew exactly what he meant.

I smacked the side of his face. _Hard._

"What the bloody hell was that for?" He asked indignantly, rubbing the spot where I'd hit him. "That bloody hurt!"

"Good, you git!"

"Again, I repeat, what was that for?"

By now we'd stopped walking, and I stared at him in exasperated wonder. "You really don't know? Merlin, you really are a moron. That was for making not-so-subtle comments about my. . .physique. Or lack thereof. I'm tired of you talking about it, Black!" It was true, he made comments about it at least once a week. "Yes, I'm small. No, I don't have breasts or a nice arse you can stare at whenever you feel like." And then I smirked. "Doesn't seem to stop the blokes from coming, though."

His mouth dropped open, and he looked completely shocked. "I-I, you. . . That's not what I meant." He finished meekly.

I snorted. "Please. Do you have any idea how many times you've joked about it? Well, guess what? I don't care what you have to say on the matter, Black, because your opinion on this subject is entirely irrelevant. And I don't even see how it matters, Black, because I'm sure you've got plenty of other whores to shag who have the right 'requirements' for you. Not that it would make a difference even if I did, because you're an arrogant man-whore who's a prat and a git and thinks of nothing other than his looks and when he's next going to get laid. And it's not going to get you anywhere, Sirius, because one day you're most likely going to fall in love with someone who won't want to be with you specifically because of the way you are now." I took a deep breath, finally done with my rant.

I thought I heard him mutter something like, "I think I already did."

I had no idea where any of that had come from. Sure, we always got into fights, that was just natural because we were both so stubborn and loud. (And sometimes stupid.) But I'd never just ranted off like that, we kept our insults to a maximum of maybe three sentences.

I backed up a little bit, blushing red. I was still mad at him, but I hadn't really intended to say something like that.

Sirius caught my elbow, effectively preventing me from backing up and running away. He sighed and looked over my head, a distant look in his eyes. I sneezed, (Great time to bloody fucking_ sneeze_.) and he jumped and seemed to snap out of it. He looked down at me, holding my gaze.

"Daelia. . ." My eyes widened at the use of my name. "Merlin, Daelia, that's not how I meant it. I was just teasing, y'know?" He said earnestly, practically begging me to forgive him. "I like you the way you are, and it's obvious that everyone else does, too." His expression darkened a bit. "If you were any different, it would just be. . . Too odd. You know that I didn't mean it. And . . . You're right about all those things. Except I _do_ think about more than just myself, and you know it."

I sighed. "Yeah, I. . . Er, I-I'm sorry." I mumbled the last word, making it barely audible.

He smirked and leaned down. "What was that, love?"

I looked away. "I said . . . Oh, you heard me, you prat. Don't make me say it again." I snapped.

"Alright, fine, but only because you asked so nicely." He replied sarcastically. We started walking again, but he suddenly stopped me. "You know. . . I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said something like that."  
I snorted and started walking again, knowing that he would follow. "Like I'm not used to it by now."

At this point, we were at the painting to enter the kitchens. Sirius, who was still behind me, just reached over my head and tickled the pear, causing it to giggle and turn into a doorknob.

As he reached over my head, I caught a scent of cinnamon, sunflower, and rain.

Damn him for smelling like my favorite thing.

And he knows that I love it, too. Rain has been one of my favorite smells since I was a little girl. I'd gone to the neighbor's house to play, and when I'd come home, no one was there, and I was locked out. I sat outside for about ten minutes, and then it had started to pour. But the rain wasn't cold, and once I'd discovered how it tickled when it dripped down my arms, I'd never been able to stay inside when it rained.

Unless, of course, there was lots of lightening. Because lightening can kill you. And I'd rather not die.

_But hey, at least he smells good, instead of smelling greasy or oily like a certain Slytherin who used to/still does have an infatuation with Lily. _I thought as we sat down and waited for the house elves to bring us something. _That makes the bet so much easier._

Ah, the bet! I'd almost forgotten that I was still trying to get Sirius in a relationship.

That part probably wouldn't be too hard, all I would have to do is lean over and kiss him. It was the two month part that was going to be difficult.

Oh, and the whole 'exclusive' part. Yeah. That might be a bit hard.

Oh, Merlin, why the bloody hell did I ever even agree to that stupid bet?  
As if Merlin would have the answers for me.

"Eckhart?" I heard Sirius very distantly say. He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Hmm? Sorry. Zoned out a bit."

He chuckled and pointed at the plated in front of me.

Holy Merlin's sparkling red thong. (Note to self: Never use that saying out loud, for the fact that people will most likely call you a slag that has a thing for old dead people.)

It was a cranberry muffin.

I looked up at him in wonder and he gave me an amused look as I started to shovel down the muffin. "You know," He mused, "I would be much more upset about you ignoring me if it weren't for the fact that you look so cute when you're shoveling muffin down your throat."

I smiled, as I had just finished my muffin. "Yes, well, you'd never guess, but this annoying arrogant git that I know once gave me a nickname because I love muffins so much . . ."

"Oh, really? Hmm, I must meet this annoying arrogant git. He sounds like a very striking, ravishing, sexy young bloke."

"Well, I guess he is." I said with a smirk as I saw a bit of surprise flash in his eyes, though it quickly disappeared. "But he's also an arse, and that sort of overshadows the ravishingly handsome part. And then there's this little thing he's got . . . He's quite the dog, that one."

Sirius smirked, too. "Oh? And what did he decide to name this dog?" Ever since I found out that he was an animagus, which was right in the beginning of fifth year when I'd accidentally seen it happen, I'd been coming up with ridiculous names for it.

"I have a final name for it." I said nonchalantly. "I've decided to call that mangy mutt Snuffles."

"Snuffles?" Sirius guffawed. "No way in bloody hell, Eckhart. You can not call my animagus from 'Snuffles.'"

My smirk became more prominent. "Oh, no vetoes, Black. Snuffles. And that's final." He glared at me so I pouted and gave him puppy-dog eyes. (Hmm. Ironic.) "Come on, please? I've been trying to come up with a name for a year, now. Just let me have this one."

He sighed and looked away, fidgeting. "Damn you and your stupid big adorable eyes." I grinned, knowing I had won. My green-gray eyes were quite useful sometimes. He sighed again. "Alright. Fine. Snuffles it is, then."

My grin widened and, on impulse, I reached over and hugged him. I wasn't thinking about the bet when I first did it, though I had to admit that as he laughed into my ear and put his arms around me, I thought about how since I had until the end of seventh year, I could slowly but surely start dropping hints that I 'liked' him. (= Insert shudder here.)

But he was warm, and after about two seconds I completely forgot about the bet. He tightened his arms and murmured in my ear, "You know, I don't think that you've ever hugged me before."

"Sure I did. Third year, remember?"

He snorted, his breath moving a few strands of my hair. "Yeah, that was only because you'd just accidentally hit me with a bludger and you were happy that you weren't a murderer."

I pulled back, keeping my arms around his neck while he kept his around my lower back, and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well . . . I didn't much fancy getting sent to Azkaban." He raised an eyebrow. "And I guess I didn't want James to be mad at me for killing his best friend . . ." I added playfully. He pouted. I mockingly sighed. "Okay, and I guess I didn't want you dead, either. 'Cos then James would start coming to _me_ with all of his pranks, and I get enough detention as it is."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're impossible, woman. I don't know how I put up with you."

I smirked. "Well, I'm just too pretty for you to get rid of. And besides, if I wasn't around, you'd never have any fun. No one to challenge you."

"Too true, Muffin. Too true."

We grinned at each other for a second before I realized that we were entirely too close to be acceptable.

And then I realized that this could be quite useful for the bet.

Now, I don't blush very often, but I'm quite the actor. Nellie has often told me that my lying skills are actually kind of scary, and that no one can ever be sure if I'm telling the truth or not.

If you can fake blush, that's what I did. I pulled back and looked to the side, trying to look embarrassed, while Sirius shot me a cocky grin. I stopped myself from hexing him by gritting my teeth. "I have to go find Lil . . . Remus," I muttered quickly, making it sound like an excuse. "We have to work on our Ancient Runes essay."

And he bought it, thinking that I was all flustered. His cocky grin widened as we walked out of the kitchens.

I'd originally wanted to say that I was meeting Lily, but then I'd thought, Remus is my tutor, it would be obvious for me to meet him. And Sirius was one of his best friends, so it was likely that Sirius would find out that I _wasn't_ meeting Remus.

Ah, the beauty of my acting skills.

I guess that I should feel guilty, except it's Sirius Black, so I really don't. In his long line of past/future broken hearts, what are a few white lies going to hurt him? Besides, he likes to act like nothing fazes him. He's the almighty Sirius Black, who thinks that while he's at Hogwarts, nothing can go wrong for him. He deserves to be taken down a few notches. And I'd _love_ to be the one to do it.

. . .

Okay, who am I kidding? No matter what I do, no matter what _anyone_ does, that will never happen. If someone upsets him, then he'll just go find some slag to shag. (Hehe, I rhymed unintentionally. That always amuses me.)

Although, he'd seemed genuinely upset when I'd ranted at him earlier. So. . .Gasp. . .Maybe he really does have a soul?

. . .

Okay. Yes. I know he was a soul. But I'd be surprised if he actually cared about what I thought.

Hmm. That would be quite amusing. I would go and voice my scenarios to Alice and Lily, but they would start going on and on about how much they hate him but how he _does_ care. . .

Insane people, they are.

Then again, the fact that I agreed to this stupid bet proves that I'm just as insane as they are.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

When I got back to the common room, Lily told me that she thinks I'm bipolar.

I told her that I agree with her.

I mean, really, I was never this insane or scatterbrained. And I was never so sadistic or violent.

Okay. So maybe I was.

But really, one minute I'm yelling at Black about him being a man-whore and the next I'm hugging him!

Even if it was for a, erm . . . bet.

But really, I've got to get a better hold on myself before they all decide to send me to the mental ward at St. Mungos.

"Oh, we're already sending you there, love." I jumped as I heard Sirius' voice. I looked up to see him sitting next to me on the couch.

Sad, really, that I didn't even notice that he sat down.

"Yeah, we're just waiting for all that bloody paperwork to get through." A voice said from my left. I whipped my head to the other side (Ow!) to see James.

I scowled and looked at Lily, only to discover that she was gone.

Stupid James and his stupid stalkerish tendencies.

"But why is Lily saying you should go there this time, Muffin?"

I sighed. "Bipolar. I think I really am. Especially when it comes to you two."

"No, just especially when it comes to Padfoot. And he's pretty bipolar about you, too." James said, giving Sirius a pointed look. "Well, not so much anymore. Seems he's deiced that-"

"Shut _up_, Prongs!" Sirius hissed over my head.

I looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, then said, "No. I'm not even going to ask. I'm too tired."

Sirius looked down at me, his eyes amused.

Hmm. Maybe he _is_ bipolar too. "Doing something you shouldn't be, Muffin?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. In the ten minutes it's been since I last saw you, I decided to go and find Lanron Libyin so we could go have some fun in a broom closet." I said sarcastically.

"Hey, better watch out there, Daelia, or you might make Sirius jealous." James teased.

I rolled my eyes again. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. I'm going to go to bed now, alright? You two keep thinking your insane and disgustingly perverted thoughts. See you in the morning."

If I'm lucky, I won't.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

I wasn't lucky. I never am. The day started with me tripping down the last few stairs, which is actually a normal occurrence, only this time Elvora just happened to be standing at the bottom of them.

"Ready to quit and fall at my feet already, Daelia?" She sneered.

I glared at her as I tried (And failed) to stand up. She snickered as I put my hand on my ankle, just laughing harder when I yelped in pain. I was just starting to get my wand out (to, er, fix my ankle. Not hex her. No. . . *gazes shiftily around* never hex her. . .) when a cold voice said, "Go upstairs, Hardsgrove, and leave her alone."

And guess who it was?

That git that I practically _had_ to call a knight-in-shining-armor now.

Elvora immediately turned her glare away from me and sweetly said, "Oh, Siri, I didn't know you were there!" She giggled.  
Creeeeepy.

Sirius glared cooly at her as I smirked, glad to be able to focus on this instead of the aching pain in my ankle. (That was twisted at a not-so-good angle. . .) "Leave her alone, Hardsgrove. And leave me alone, too."

She stared for a few seconds and then turned around, fuming. I shot her a smug look as she stomped up the stairs and Sirius leaned down to me, sighing.

"Well, love, you know I can fix bones, but this doesn't look so good. We should probably take you to the Hospital Wing."

I groaned and he grinned at me, picking me up bridal style. A few people stared, but by now, most were used to this. I was carried to the Hospital Wing quite frequently.

"You know, one would think that you would have learned to do your own healing spells by now, you need them so often." He commented as we walked down the third floor corridor.

"But that's why I have you." I smiled.

He looked down at me and rolled his eyes. "You're completely bonkers, you know that?"

I finished at the Hospital Wing very quickly. Madam Pomfrey didn't even warn me about being careful, she knows it's useless. Sirius had already left so I made my way back up to the common room on my own, where I found absolutely no one.

Oh. Right. Class. I was supposed to be in Charms right now.

I grabbed my bag and ran out, tripping out the portrait hole.

And the, of course, I end up getting stuck because the stupid staircase decided that it wanted to move, leaving me no way to get to Charms other than a few secret passages, none of which I could remember the locations of.

So I sat there. And waited for that bloody staircase to come back. And when I assumed that it had been about twenty minutes, a stern voice said, "Miss Eckhart, what in the world are you doing?"

I twisted around to see Professor McGonagall and I smiled sheepishly. "Waiting for the staircase to come back."

I could have sworn that she almost rolled her eyes. "Well, Miss Eckhart, if you had gone to the Great Hall you could have used the staircases that are right to the left of it!"

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open in shock.

Wow. I really am an imbecile.

Which doesn't make me feel very good, considering James and Sirius are complete imbeciles, and I would really prefer not to be categorized with them.

"Oh, uh, er . . . I guess I sort of forgot about that."

She raised a thin eyebrow at me and said, "Well, you best be getting to your class now. Charms, isn't it?"

I nodded and stood up, murmuring a "Thank you" as I rushed past her, grateful that she hadn't given me detention.

Which is a bit scary, because she's _McGonagall_. She gives everyone detention.

I opened the door to the Charms room, trying to do it as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, luck was not with me, and that damn door made the loudest squeak possible. Almost simultaneously, the class whipped around. I would have laughed, if not for the fact that I had every sixth year Gryffindor and almost every sixth year Hufflepuff staring at me.

"Er, professor, I'm sorry, but-"

"Quite alright, Miss Eckhart, Mr. Black told me all about you landed yourself in the Hospital Wing. . . Again. Just go take your seat, child."

I scanned the room to see that the only seat open was next to Sirius, with James and Peter at the table. Of course, I hadn't thought about it, but it must have been the full moon.

One thing I may not have mentioned? Remus is a werewolf. I figured it out towards the end of fourth year. He always told us that he was going to visit his sick grandmother, but after a while, I'd stopped believing him. I mean, honestly, if your grandmother is so sick that you have to visit her every month, then after four years, she should be dead. Harsh, but entirely true. And then I'd started doing a bit of investigating, noticing when he left and when he came back. After not too long, I noticed that it was always at the full moon. And then I noticed that Sirius, James, and Peter always seemed to be exhausted the next day . . .

I'd thought about asking one of them to confirm it, but I knew that they'd never say anything. So, being the imbecile that I am, I followed them one night. I'd planned on staying right on the edge of the forest so that they couldn't see me, just so I would know if I was right, but then they decided to go down that stupid tunnel that I'd discovered in second year in the Whomping Willow, and I really had no choice but to follow. I cast a Disillusionment charm on myself so that they wouldn't see me, and we ended up in the Shrieking Shack. Remus had started to transform, it was horrible, and then . . . then James turned into a deer (Okay, so it was a stag, but I like to tease him and say he's a deer) Sirius had turned into a big black shaggy dog, and then Peter turned into a . . . (Drum roll please) . . . a rat.

I'd seen enough; All I'd wanted to know was if I was right in thinking that Remus was a werewolf. I backed out slowly, and none of them ever saw me. Of course, I ended up feeling very guilty, so two weeks later, I fessed up. James was just shocked, but Sirius yelled at me, saying that I could have gotten hurt, and that Remus would feel guilty if that happened, and all this other crap . . . I wasn't exactly paying too much attention. Eventually, he stopped yelling when he realized that I wasn't arguing, and I guess he understood that I felt bad about what I'd done. I begged Remus to forgive me, and he'd seemed so sad. It took me a few minutes to figure out that he thought I would treat him differently now that I knew. It took me hours to convince him that I wouldn't.

Anyways, off track there . . .

Charms passed without incident. Black didn't even try to annoy me, we all succeeded with our charms, (except Peter) and then it was over.

Well, no. My horrible luck was not over, because as soon as lunch rolled around, I ended up dumping my pumpkin juice all over Shannen. I apologized profusely, and she honestly didn't seem to mind much, but Elvora blew up at me, screaming about how we weren't allowed to sabotage. The Marauders stared curiously, but I was too bust focusing on not hexing the life out of Elvora to come up with a good excuse. When Lily finally threatened Elvora with detention, her and Shannen left.

Ah, bless Lily and her prefect-ness.

The rest of classes were completely normal, although I expected something to blow up in my face.

And then, at dinner, it really _did_ blow up. I mean, not literally, but close enough.

First, when I waked in with Nellie and Alice, Lily was nowhere to be found. And then I heard Nellie gasp and followed her eyes, where I saw a black head sitting on Sirius' lap, practically eating his face off. (Well . . . at least she found something new for dinner?) His arms were around her, obviously _not_ trying to push her off, and only when I looked closer did I see who it was.

Elvora.

Elvora bloody Hardsgrove.

And this is the part where I start to reconsider that hiring someone to strangle her idea . . .

Nellie grabbed my arm and steered me to the other end of the table, as far as we could get from them.

"Hey, you haven't lost yet, Dae. She's still got to get him in a relationship. And he has to stay faithful, too."

I nodded numbly, trying as hard as I could not to look at them. Honestly, I was used to seeing Sirius with a new toy every week. but this year had been a little different. I hadn't seen him randomly snogging someone or pulling anyone into any broom closets. And I was used to seeing him snogging at dinner, but that didn't make it any less disturbing.

Just goes to show that no matter how much you want someone to, they're not going to change. Especially if they are roguishly handsome and go by the name of Sirius Black.

"Honestly, you'd think they'd have some class. It's disgusting; we're all trying to eat." I heard someone, otherwise known as James Potter, say from above my head. He sat down next to me, Remus following suite on my other side while Peter sat across from me with Nellie and Alice. We were right at the edge of the table, close to the teachers, which I found a bit creepy.

"Well, Potter, I guess if you had Lily you'd be doing the same thing." I said monotonously.

James frowned, probably a little upset at the fact that I had used his surname. "No, Elvora isn't to Sirius what Lily is to me. Really, Sirius is only using her to make-"

"Hey, look! Dumbledore is getting up." Remus said sharply, giving James a pointed look. James just grinned while we all looked up to Dumbledore, who was standing at the podium.

"Good evening, students! Now, as today is December ninth, I though I would warn you about the Christmas Ball that we will be having on the twenty-second, the day before most of you leave for holiday." I groaned audibly and most of the Gryffindors turned to look at me. Many people had already tuned out, giggling excitedly at the prospect of a ball. "Now, there will be a Hogsmeade trip next weekend so you can all go buy your dress robes, as this is a formal affair. The ball is for everyone fourth year and above, unless, of course, you choose to invite someone from one of the years below. The ball will go from seven to midnight. And now that that announcement is done, back to your food, children! You need to be well fed for lessons tomorrow!"

I put my head down on my arms and groaned again. "Something wrong, Daelia?" James said, his voice full of amusement.

I brought my head up a bit. "A ball, James! A bloody freaking Christmas Ball! What is this place turning into? And now it's going to be all the girls in this school will talk about. Who they're going with, what color their dress is going to be, when they're going to buy it, how much it's going cost . . ." I trailed off and groaned again while James laughed.

"I take it that means you're not going?" He asked rather loudly.

"Oh, I'll be going, but only because I'll be getting dragged there." I looked up again and glared at Nellie and Alice, and if Lily was here I'd be glaring at her, too.

Alice suddenly jumped up. "Oh! I have to go find Frank."

I stared after her as she ran off, utterly confused. "When did those two finally get together?"

"Oh, I think it was two weeks ago. He finally got up the courage to ask her out."

Frank Longbottom was in the year above us, a seventh year, and him and Alice had liked each other somewhere around our fourth year. I was glad that he'd finally decided to ask her out, it was about time.

"Huh."

"Now, Daelia, do you think if I ask Lily tomorrow morning . . ."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Over the next week and a half or so, Lily and I got bombarded by invites to the ball. Between that and homework, I almost didn't notice the fact that Black and Elvora were sucking each others' faces off every night in the common room.

Almost.

But I am determined to call him Black all the time now. Especially considering I know it would annoy him, if he knew that I was calling him it. Which he doesn't, because he hasn't talked to me once since he got together with Elvora.

Yes, Elvora announced it that night when she got up to the dormitory. I stayed on my bed, barely sparing her a glance, while Lily and Nellie pointed out that it doesn't mean she's won the bet yet. I wholeheartedly agree, of course, but I didn't plan on saying that.

After all, I'd never thought that he'd agree to get back together with her. So who knows? Maybe she was going to win the bet, too.

. . .

Oh, Merlin. I really am losing it.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

In the end, three days before the dance, I ended up agreeing to go with Zane Johnston, a seventh year Ravenclaw. I was very surprised when he asked me, he's well known and very . . . good-looking.

Okay. So he's hot.

Lily was sitting next to me, and she elbowed my ribcage when he asked. I'd said no to all the people that had asked me, even though most of them weren't entirely horrible. But I knew that if I didn't say yes to Zane, Lily would have my head for it later. And besides, from the few times I'd talked to him, he was entirely kind and very funny, too.

So I was going with Zane, Alice was going with Frank, Mary was going with Chase Thomas, fifth year Gryffindor boy, (Gah! Remus! Why didn't you ask her?) Nellie was going with Kyle Shenang, and Lily had finally decided to go with Tyler Carmichael.

Lily was amazed, though. James had only asked her to go to the ball once, and he hadn't even donw it in an arrogant way.

Of course, he'd only asked her once because I'd told him that asking her any more times would just annoy her.

"_Just . . . I don't think she totally hates you anymore, James. But if you keep bugging her, she's going to hate you again."_

_He looked so sad that I almost wanted to go up to the dormitory and _order _Lily to go out with him. "Daelia . . . Do you think that I'm ever going to have a chance?"_

_I smiled softly. "Honestly, James? Yeah. I do. She'll come around eventually, but not with you attacking her all the time. Just give her some breathing space. When it comes to you, James, well. . . You can make people claustrophobic." For once, I wasn't even thinking about the bet we had on when they would get together. I was thinking about the fact that James and Lily were going to end up together, whether Lily would admit it or not._

And of course, Elvora was going with Sirius. How . . . nice.

Yes. Asylum time.

I'm seriously starting to wonder which would be better for me; A muggle asylum or the mental ward at St. Mungos.

And just the fact that I'm even_ wondering_ that proves that I belong in one of them.

**Yeah, so . . . There you go. Next chapter is the Christmas Ball, and I'm hoping that it's different from most people's. It's . . . Dramatic, to say the least. Go and review, please. I don't get nearly enough. But thank you to those who have reviewed, or put this on story alert or favorites. **


	8. In Which Melodrama Comes to Play

**Okay, so I kinda suck at descriptions, so when you get to the part about me describing their dresses, you can just skim it if you want. I have links on my profile as to what they look like.**

**

* * *

Chapter 7: In Which Melodrama Comes to Play...  
**

The ball was tomorrow, and even Lily was starting to get excited. I, on the other hand, was sulking as I sat next to her on the couch.

"Come on, Dae, you're going with Zane! He's one of the most sought after boys in the school! Other than, well . . . You get it."

I sighed. "I know. And he's nice, and I like him, but you know how much I hate this stuff!" I whined. "It's pointless. It's just an excuse for slags to get even sluttier and guys to take advantage."

"Nice to know you think so much of us, Muffin."

And . . . Then he sat down next to me. Like, right next to me. So close that it made me want to punch him in the face.

"Oh, talking to me again, now are you?" I replied sarcastically, not looking at him.

"What in the world are you talking about?" His voice sounded so falsely innocent that it made me want to gag.

"Oh, I don't know, just that ever since you got back together with that slag you've decided not to talk to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love it. So why don't you just leave me alone and continue ignoring me?"

"Could you possible be. . . jealous, Muffin?" I looked up at him with disgust on my face to see that amusement was evident in his expression and that he had his eyebrows raised.

"In your dreams, Black." I scoffed.

He flinched at the use of his surname. "Back to Black, are we?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't see why not." I responded coolly.

He sighed, eyes going towards the fire. "Fine then. But you sure are making it seem like you're jealous." He looked back at me and grinned cockily. "Not that I mind at all, Muffin. I've been waiting for you to realize your feelings for a long time now."

I rolled my eyes. "Please. Haven't you realized it yet, Black? I'm not going to succumb to your charms. I'm not going to be just another one of your whores." He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "Look, I'm not going to apologize this time. You use girls like toys, and you know it. You get a new one, it's fun for a while, then you find another and dump the old one in the trash. And honestly, I'm tired of watching it. So just leave me the hell out of it."

I grabbed my book and left, with both him and Lily staring after me with their mouths wide open. It was quite funny, really.

Not like it mattered. I'd already lost the bet.

. . .

Okay. Not yet. They'd only been going out for a little less than two weeks.

But that's farther than I've gotten.

Truthfully, that's farther than I ever _want_ to get. I just don't want to lose. Especially to Elvora. That's just . . . unacceptable.

Hmm. Maybe I could pay someone in the school to seduce Black. She'd have to lose the bet then.

The sad thing? I'm actually considering it.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

The day of the ball, we didn't have any classes. Something about 'getting into the spirit.' I'm not sure. I stopped paying attention to talk about the ball about twenty seconds after it was announced.

Lily insisted that me, her, Nellie, Alice, and Mary all get ready together. Nellie felt like she had to play dress-up with all of us, and Lily wholeheartedly agreed. We'd already bought our dresses, (Yes, they're technically called dress robes, but I like the American word better. Always have.) but Nellie and Lily said that that was only the half of it. There was still hair, make-up, nails . . .

Dear Merlin, please kill me now.

. . .

Okay. No. Please don't. Just give me a small accident that puts me in the Hospital Wing so that I don't have to go to this stupid thing.

I was the last one to take a shower, and when I came out, Lily was already dressed and ready, (Actually, they were all dressed. I felt a little strange.), doing Nellie's make-up.

Lily looked beautiful. I'm not really sure how to describe her dress, just that it was mid-thigh and that the top was black, slowly fading to gray, and then white at the bottom. She left her hair down, curled in loose tendrils, but pulled back a small part of her 'bangs.' (They're not really bangs. They're the same length as the rest of her hair. But she insists that that doesn't matter, they're still bangs . . .) She was wearing tall black heels, too, which really made me feel like a midget.

Alice's dress was rather plain, although it looked amazing on her. It was simple, long, midnight blue, and strapless. She wore a pretty white necklace with it and Lily had helped her put her black hair up into an elegant bun, with a few pieces hanging loose.

"Daelia, go put on your dress." Lily said, not looking up from Nellie.

I loved Nellie's dress; I'd almost bought it for myself when I'd found it. But then I found another dress that I'd loved even more, so I figured that it would look just as good on Nellie.

It was also simple, just a white, short dress with silver sparkles on the circular neckline. She wore pretty earrings with it, too, and a pair of turquoise flats. Her dark brown hair was sleek and straight, like it usually was, and Lily must have given her smoky eyes with gray eyeliner.

She reminded me of a winter princess.

I felt like I should have been jealous, but I wasn't. She looked amazing. It was simple.

I put on my dress after more of Lily's orders.

See, my dress reflected what I usually like to wear. It was a bright green, strapless, tight, and short but not too short. It flowed out in ruffles at the end, and even though I'm not a big fan of fancy dresses, I had to say that I loved mine.

Although it's not exactly what I'd call 'fancy.'

And, of course, only I had the audacity to wear bright yellow heels with it.

That was rather stupid on my part, I've never been good in heels. But Zane had mentioned that he hated dancing to fast songs, so I figured I wouldn't have too much trouble.

I was wearing earrings like everyone else, and a necklace too, which I put on before Lily ordered me to her chair.

"Okay, Lils, work your magic."

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I don't need magic to make you look good, Dae."

I snorted. "Yeah. Okay."

"Daelia, how many guys asked you to the ball?" Lily asked as she turned me away from the mirror and started to put foundation on.

I looked over at Alice, who had been keeping count. "Er. . . seventeen." She stated.

Lily's eyes widened a bit. "See? You certainly seem to be liked well enough by the male population of Hogwarts."

I just ignored her. She didn't spend very long on my make-up, and she hardly did anything to my hair.

When I looked in the mirror, I was a bit surprised at what I saw, but I didn't really look very different.

My skin was glowing, and she'd also done the whole smoky eyes thing on me. She'd left my side bangs alone, (Haha, Lily! I've got _real_ bangs!) and left the rest of my light brown hair down. It still went to the middle of my back, it hadn't grown at all lately, and she had straightened it, which really hadn't taken very long.

They all said I looked gorgeous, and I did, it's true, but I wasn't used to wearing so much make-up, even if there wasn't a copious amount. True, I usually wore a lot of eyeliner, but that was it.

"Oh, stop hogging the mirror, Daelia. We all know you're the most beautiful of us, there's no need to prove it to yourself." I rolled my eyes and frowned as Alice pushed me gently out of the way.

"Please. She's almost as ugly as Lucy Marlene." Elvora's voice came from right behind me, and I spun around to see her smirking.

She was wearing a lot of eyeliner. Like, an almost scary amount. Her dress was light pink and tight, and she was also wearing heels while her straight black hair flowed freely around her, tousled. It was obvious that she'd worked quite hard to get it that way.

Coughcough . . . slag . . . coughcough

Shannen, on the other hand, looked very . . . sweet, I guess. She was wearing a gray, strapless dress with a purple bow right below her chest, and she also had a gold locket. She was wearing gray flats. Her hair was still curly, as was usual, but it was much sleeker than normal.

I've never understood why she's friends with the she-devil. Shannen used to be nice and sweet and innocent.

I highly doubt that last part is true now . . .

"Let's just go downstairs, ladies. The ball starts in ten minutes." I said, trying desperately not to reach over and grab my wand.

Nellie sighed and said, "Alright, let's go. But Daelia, I'll walk with you. Merlin knows that you'll need help in those heels."

I smiled sheepishly and took her arm as we all started walking down the stairs, Nellie and I last in the line.

Everyone was just milling around the common room, either talking to friends or waiting for their dates. The Marauders were right near the end of our stairs, and I know that James' jaw dropped open as soon as he saw Lily. Nellie and I laughed at his adoring but hungry expression, which brought Remus' and Black's attention to us.

Black's jaw dropped, too, as soon as he saw me.

My cheeks heated a bit as I looked down.

I was a bit ashamed of myself as I had my next thought, though.

I was _glad_. Glad that he was looking at me with that expression instead of Elvora.

I tried to chalk it up to the fact that I _really _wanted to win this bet, but I knew it wasn't true. Yes, I wanted to win the bet, but that look he gave me and the way it made me feel had absolutely nothing to do with the bet.

Elvora walked past me, giggling as she rushed over to Sir . . . Er, Black, and latched onto his arm. His didn't remove his eyes from me, however, even as James came up to compliment me on the dress.

"Definitely something only you would be daring enough to wear, Dae."

I smiled up at him. "Well, you know. I don't do well with boring."

"Sure you're gonna be able to get down any more staircases in those shoes, Muffin?" Black murmured into my ear.

Even though I hadn't known he was behind me, I didn't jump. "Sod off, Black, we know I won't. That's what I've got Nellie for."

I could tell he was grinning, and I saw Elvora across the room with Shannen and Gabriel Hardsgrove, Elvora's seventh year brother and Shannen's boyfriend of a little over a year. Elvora was glaring at the two of us, especially the hand that Black had gently resting on my shoulder.

"Well, I would sod off, except for the fact that being over here gets me away from . . . What is it you call her?"

"The she-devil." I muttered reluctantly, wishing that he would just go away already but kind of hoping that he wouldn't.

"Yes, that." He said, amused. "I've been waiting to see you all night."

"Well, you saw me, so feel free to go back to the she-devil." I said in a bored tone, examining my nails.

He squeezed my shoulder a bit, and I saw Nellie shoot me a questioning gaze. "I'd rather not."

I finally spun around to face him. "Then why the bloody hell are you still with her?" I asked, exasperated. His eyes widened a bit, shocked at my outburst. "You know what? Never mind. I really don't what to know." I slipped under his arm and walked over to the girls, asking them if we could go downstairs like most of the others in the common room were doing.

Nellie had to help me down the stairs again. All of them.

Zane was waiting for me in the Entrance Hall, and I walked over to him as quickly as I dared, mainly to get away from Black and Elvora.

He was wearing navy blue dress robes, and his black hair clashed with his tan skin perfectly. I smiled as I walked up to him, and he just stared.

"Zane? Do you ever plan on blinking again?"

He grinned and put an arm around me. He leaned down to say something, but we were interrupted by some very obnoxious giggling and the doors to the Great Hall opening. I took a deep breath and tried my best not to groan and whine and beg to leave.

And the ball hasn't even started yet.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

About an hour into the ball, Zane and I were sitting at a table with Lily and Tyler, Alice and Frank, and James and Ellie, a tall fifth year girl from Hufflepuff.

"No, Lily, I did not tell you to that I ever wanted her dead."

Lily snorted. "I distinctly recall you asking if we could hire someone to kill her."

". . . I said that out loud?"

"More than once, Daelia."

"Oh, shut up Alice. Okay. Fine. So I said that."

James was staring at me with a spark of amusement in his eyes. "So, you conveniently want Sirius' date to die."

I rolled my eyes. "It was nothing to do with Black, you moron. I've always hated her. Lily and Alice and Nellie hate her, too. And if Mary was capable of hate, Mary would hate her too."

"I don't know, Daelia. You sure make it seem like it has something to do with Padfoot."

I stared at him for a second, then picked up my goblet and threw it at him. There was nothing in it, but it still gave me some satisfaction when I heard it collide with his head.

Honestly, it was bad enough that we were having this conversation, but to have it in front of Zane? I actually _liked_ Zane. I really didn't need James scaring him off.

Thankfully, Lily, who was closer to him, slapped him in the back of the head, to which he responded with a goofy smile.

I almost felt sorry for Ellie, except for the fact that she just left the ball with a Slytherin.

"Ah, James, you really are delusional sometimes. And clueless. Did you not just notice your date leave with Ignacio Nott?"

He barely paid attention to me.

I looked back over at Zane. "Er, Zane? Are you feeling all right?" I asked nervously.

He moaned quietly and shook his head. His normally tan skin was almost as pale as mine, and he was covered in a sheen of sweat. He was holding his stomach and looked like he was trying not to upchuck. "I'm sorry, Daelia, but I think I need to go."

I nodded worriedly. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, that's okay." He got up and moved his way through the dancing students.

I stared after him. "Well. Looks like I'm alone now."

"We can change that easily, Muffin." I scowled as Black took the seat Zane had just vacated.

"I'd rather not." I looked back at the rest of the table to see that Alice and Frank had left to go dance, and James was looking amused again.

So was Lily. "Traitor." I muttered in her direction. She laughed and started whispering to Tyler. I assumed she was telling him something about Black and I.

"Aw, come on, Muffin. Have a little fun."

"I have plenty of fun, Black, just not when you're around." I responded coolly.

"You didn't look like you were having much fun with Johnston."

"What, have you been watching us the whole night?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He smirked. "Actually, yes. I wasn't exactly watching Johnston, though . . ."

"Merlin, you're a pervert. Don't you have your own date."

"Doesn't matter. She's a she-devil."

"Then why did you come with her?" I challenged. "Let me guess, because you think she's hot?" He stayed silent. "That's what I thought."

"You don't know everything, Eckhart." He finally said quietly.

"I never claimed to." I replied, just as quiet. I then stood up and said, "I'm going to the bathroom." I weaved through the crowd, making my way out of the Great Hall.

"Going somewhere, Miss Eckhart?"

I froze. I knew that voice. "Bathroom, Professor."

Langor walked past me and turned around so that I was facing him. He stepped forward once. I stepped back. "You know, Daelia, you're one of my favorite students." Another step forward. Another one back. "You're one of the prettiest, too." I tried to step to the side and slip away, but he blocked me. I backed up again and hit the wall, knowing that he had effectively cornered me.

I was starting to panic a bit. I desperately needed my wand, but I didn't have it, I had left it in the dormitory. I usually took my wand everywhere, but Lily and Alice had taken theirs so they said the rest of us didn't need ours. I wasn't in view of the Great Hall, so no one could see what was going on. Even if I screamed, I doubted anyone would hear me, the music was too long. I could smell alcohol on his breath, too, as he leaned closer. My heart was pounding, and I tried bringing my knee up, but he brought out his wand and used a body-bind spell on me.

Well, shit. Even when he's drunk, he manages to anticipate my moves.

My muscles froze up and locked, and I knew that I wouldn't be moving any time soon.

"Such a pretty girl, Daelia. It shouldn't be wasted on boys like Johnston on Black." He moved his head down to my neck while I silently tried to break the body-bind. I was thinking that maybe if he was drunk, he wouldn't have been able to cast a very strong body-bind. It was starting to get harder to breathe, and I was almost certain that I was starting to have a panic attack. "You need someone real, someone who can take care of you and appreciate your beauty."

If I could have snorted, I would have. Where was he getting this? From some movie that specialized in rape lines?

He pressed his lips to my neck, and I started to struggle in earnest against the body-bind spell, making it even harder to breathe. My lungs started to burn, and I almost wished that the body-bind would make it so that I couldn't feel, either.

But apparently, I didn't need that.

Langor's hands were ripped off of me, and I heard him fall onto the floor with a loud _thunk_. The body-bind broke and I fell onto the floor on my hands and knees, gasping, finally able to give my lungs the air they were begging for.

I heard a crack and looked up to see Sirius with an enraged and concentrated face as his fist collided with Langor's face over and over again.

Proffesor Langor was unconscious by now, his face covered in blood. I crawled over and tried to grab Black's fist.

"Black! Black, stop it. He's not awake anymore! It's not worth it." He struggled against me for a few more seconds before slumping back and crawling off of Langor. He turned around and looked at me, eyes searching my face as he put his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you . . . Are you okay?"

"If I said I was, would you believe me?"

"No."

I sighed but smiled softly. "Well then, I guess I'm not okay."

He sighed, too, and out his arms around me, both of us still sitting on the floor. "I knew he was a creep, but I never knew that he wou-would do something like that." He murmured into my hair.

I snorted. "Neither did I. How'd you end up out here, anyway?"

"Well, you just ran off, and I felt kinda bad, and then I saw him go out, too . . ." His tone turned to one of disgust by the end. "He should've gotten a lot worse than that . . ."

I squeezed my arms tighter around him. "Please, just . . . Don't do anything else. Can we just leave?" My heart still hadn't calmed down; In fact, I think it had started pounding harder. I was amazed he couldn't hear it.

He stood up, taking me with him. He kept an arm tight around my waist as we started making our way to Gryffindor tower, although I suspect that it had more to do with the shoes than anything else.

When we were almost halfway there, he sighed and broke the silence. "You always manage to get yourself in bad situations, don't you, Muffin?" He sounded sad, although there was an undercurrent of amusement.

I smiled sheepishly. "It's the bad luck in me. It comes out of the most inopportune moments."

He shook his head, exasperated. "Merlin, Daelia, can you even take care of yourself?"

I stopped walking, causing him to stop too. "And what the bloody hell do you mean by that?" I questioned indignantly.

He sighed. "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. You seem to be saying that a lot lately."

He opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again. "Daelia, I just . . . You-I . . ." He sounded like he was struggling for words, but then he blew out a breath and said, "I just worry about you, Daelia." He raised his eyebrows when I opened my mouth to protest, giving me a challenging gaze, so I shut it again. "I _know_ that you can take care of yourself, alright? I know that. But it doesn't stop me from worrying. There are some things you can't control, though, like the fact that you're completely uncoordinated," I rolled my eyes. "Or like what happened tonight. And the luck monkeys seem to have been cruel to you."

"Luck monkeys?" I repeated.

He grinned. "Oi, you're the one that came up with that one. Second year, remember?"

"You know, the fact that you made a speech that emotional and that long is surprising enough. The fact that you remembered something I said in second year is downright frightening." By now we'd started walking again, and he squeezed the arm that was still around my waist.

"I remember lots of things you've said, Muffin. Your words are very important to me."

"Well then why is it you never listen to me when I tell you not to do some prank?"

He snorted. "Muffin, half the time _you're_ the one that _comes up_ with our pranks. I don't think you've _ever_ warned us against one."

I pursed my lips. "Well . . . I guess you're kind of right with that one. Er . . . Oh! I got it. What about when I tell you not to go off with some slag and then you do it anyways?'

He raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen that happen at all this year?"

"She-devil?" I said pointedly.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, that's. . . it's not real or anything."

I laughed bitterly. "And since when is it _ever_ real, Black?" There we go, using the last name again. "It's all fun and games for you. A quick shag in the broom closet and then you pretend it never happened. Are you ever going to grow up?" I blew out a breath.

Yeah. I'm Bipolar. Specifically when it comes to Sirius Black.

"Daelia . . . I know that I've been like that in the past, but it's honestly not like that anymore."

"Oh, so it really is _real_, you and Elvora?"

He flinched. "Bloody hell. _No_."

"Well then what in Merlin's name are you trying to say?" I asked, extremely exasperated.

"I'm trying to say . . ." He struggled for words, obviously frustrated. "Merlin's beard!" He finally cried, throwing his hands up. "Go ask Prongs!"

I frowned as I watched him walk away, wondering what in the world he was talking about. If what he had with Elvora wasn't 'real,' (Shudder) but he wasn't all man-whorey anymore, then what the bloody effing hell was he trying to say?

And I thought the Marauders were supposed to be _un_complicated.

They're childish, immature, arrogant, gits, care way too much about their pranks. They hardly ever know when to shut their mouths, one of them is a stalker, one is a werewolf, one is a petty follower, and the last is a man-whore. They never study, they live to bother Slytherins, most of us believe that they'll never get up their pranks.

They're also brilliant, fiercely loyal and extremely protective. No matter what they say, they care about most of the younger students, and they'll defend anyone against the Slytherins at any time.

Lots of info, but it's fairly simple. They say what they mean. They hide secrets, true, but only ones involving a certain 'furry little problem' and ones involving their pranks.

But now. . . Now, I'm not so sure that they're that simple. Now, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the Marauders really _aren't_ arses. Maybe they actually _do_ have feelings.

. . .

Okay. That made it sound like they're soulless gits. Gits, yes. Soulless . . . As much as I wish they were, they aren't.

But now. . . They've got. . . Depth. Merlin, that sounds cheesy. But it's true.

And, of course, Black has to leave me with a 'cliffhanger' of sorts. He knows that I can't stand not knowing things; That I'm extremely curious, and I'm not good at letting things go.

In other words, he knows just how to push my buttons.

And whether he's done it intentionally or not this time, I intend to find out what in Merlin's pants he was talking about.

. . .

And I didn't mean that in a perverted way.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Later, when we were in the dormitory, they all asked me where I'd suddenly disappeared to and why Black had been missing, too.

"Oh, sod off and stop waggling your eyebrows, Nellie, you look like you're about to have a seizure."

"Well, excuse me if I find it a bit suspicious that you just happen to run out to go to the loo and he saunters after you, then both of you disappear for the night."

"We didn't disappear for the whole night." I huffed.

"Uh . . . Dae? It's three in the morning. The ball ended at midnight." Lily said meekly, although her searching gaze was much more powerful.

"Oh. Well, uh . . . Oh. Look, we didn't do anything, alright? We talked for a bit, then we argued, then he confused me, then he ran off. Just like always. Well, except for the confusing me part."

From behind me, I heard a delicate snort. "Well of _course_ nothing happened, you freak. Siri is with _me_."

I snorted too, much less delicately. "Yeah? Is that why he came running to me by the end of the night? Face it, Elvora, you make him run. Your she-devil ways just make him want to find someone else." I said sweetly.

She glared at me as Lily closed the hangings around my bed.

It was just Alice, Lily, and I, because Alice was still with Frank, (No, not doing anything dirty. Alice just . . . Isn't like that. . . Actually? I'm not sure.)

Lily sighed. "Look, Dae, we all know that I hate Black almost as much as I hate Potter, but _you_ don't hate him. And if I'm going to be serious-"

"You can't be Sirius, Lily, Black is."

She glared at me and continued. "If I'm going to be _honest_," She sent me a pointed look. "He's different around you. And he never apologizes to anyone, not even James, but just in the past week how many times has he apologized to you?"

I sighed. "Okay. Fine. I get it. It'll be easy for me to win the bet if him and Elvora break up."

Lily looked at me exasperatedly. "I wasn't talking about the bet!" She burst out.

"Lily, just leave it alone. She's in denial, and I don't think that's going to change if either of us say anything about it."

I looked at Alice and confusedly asked, "What exactly am I in denial about?"

They both stared at me for a second, looking at me like I was an idiot. "Never mind." Alice finally muttered.

Well. Nice to know I'm idiot who's in denial.

And again . . . _What_, exactly, am I in denial about?

**Go. Review. And you know, you would have gotten this chapter faster if more of you had reviewed. But thank you, WyomingMustang97, for being my only reviewer last chapter.**


	9. Thin Lines

**Bleh. This chapter isn't so good. But it's the Christmas one, so...I guess I like parts of it. Not that that matters. Whatever. Ignore me. I'm high on painkillers right now. (And yes, they were prescribed. I'm not a druggie.)**

**

* * *

Chapter 8: Thin Lines**

Everyone went home for Christmas the next day. I, of course, was staying at the castle, even though Lily had invited me to her house for the holidays.

"Sorry, Lily, but I'd rather not be there when you and your sister get into another one of your infamous arguments" had been my response. Nellie had invited me too, but she had three sisters and four brothers. Alice was going to Italy with her family and Mary was going to Finland, as was Peter Pettigrew. Sirius went to James', and Remus . . . Well, I wasn't really sure.

There were three other Gryffindors staying, two of which were second years while the third was a fourth year. I never really went down to the Great Hall, I just went down to the kitchens whenever I got hungry. My eating schedule was a little mixed up, as it always was over any of the holidays, because I stayed up until two in the morning and didn't actually get up until sometime around ten or eleven in the morning.

To be honest, it was a very boring holiday, spent with only the company of a few books, the house elves, and Strawberries. She decided that she wanted to tear up the whole dormitory, so I ended up having to clean up all the feathers and repairing everything. (Except, of course, Elvora's things. I let those be.)

No one even sent me any letters.

When I woke up on Christmas, however, I had a pile of wrapped presents at the foot of my bed. I was a bit surprised, although that was irrational, as I had sent everyone presents too, including the Marauders.

I spent most of the morning unwrapping them while Strawberries lounged on my lap, occasionally moving to sit on my pillow.

Lily had sent me a pair of bright green knee socks, because she'd know I'd love them. In the letter, she said, _'I saw these and immediately knew that they were practically invented for you.' _She'd also given me a muggle candy called 'Sour Patch Kids'. Alice and Mary both gave me jewelry, Nellie got me a singing card, because she knew I'd hate it, (Those things seriously scare me) and a knitted scarf that she knew I would appreciate. James gave me... Well, I'm not really sure what it was, really. It was square and yellow, with a black dot in the middle. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with it, and to be honest, I was a bit afraid to ask him. Remus gave me a few muggle books that he'd found, all ones he knew I'd read since he knew exactly what I liked to read. One of the books was titled _The Host, _and I could see that it was by Stephanie Meyer, who I, coincidentally, hated. But this book sounded much better than her other horrible series, and I found myself wanting to read it right away.

But I had other presents.

Peter gave me a pencil. A muggle pencil. I had no idea whether that was supposed to be funny or he just didn't know what to get me, but I was guessing it was option two.

But really, Pettigrew, a _pencil_? Do we even _use_ those?

Evangeline sent me a present, too, including a letter. She gave me a gold ring with an emerald, my favorite jewel, front and center on it. She told me that it had once been mum's ring.

Well. Looks like my sister _has _changed.

I finally got to the last present, and from the haphazard wrapping, I knew exactly who it was from. And honestly? I was kind of afraid to open it.

But, being the naturally curious person that I am, I had to open it anyways. I did so cautiously, wondering why the bloody hell he'd even sent me a present.

But hey, if it's better than Elvora's, I'll be happy.

Whatever it was was wrapped up in a box. And when I opened that box, there was another one. And another one. And another. Finally, I managed to get to the real gift.

I almost wanted to cry when I opened it.

It was a snow globe, something I hadn't seen since I was eleven. I'd never known what one was, and then one day when I went to James' house, he had one. I'd stared at it for hours while Sirius laughed at me, saying that I was practically drooling.

It was a beautiful snow globe, one with two pandas on the inside, right on the edge of a tropical forest. Instead of snow, though, it was magically charmed to look like it was raining, and the pandas could move around. They looked entirely real, and as I watched a brightly colored bird started flying around.

He'd gotten me the perfect gift. And all I'd gotten him was a leather jacket because I'd thought he'd like it.

But the snow/rain globe wasn't all. I looked in the box to find a silver locket in the shape of a raindrop. When I opened it up, one side had a picture of a panda and a seal together.

The other side was what threw me, though. It was picture of Sirius and I when we were having one of our strange arguments. I watched as I smacked Sirius' head, we both said something, and then burst out laughing.

We looked...Happy. And we were together. Not ripping each others' throats out.

There was a letter, too, written in a hasty scrawl that had I not been reading it for years, I wouldn't have been able to decipher it.

_Well, Muffin, hope you don't hate it. Prongs says that he's not going to help me if you throw that globe at me. Really, what kind of mate is he? Choosing you over me? I'm a little insulted. And since he's reading this over my shoulder right now, (git) he says that he's not choosing anyone, just that he likes you better._

_Gee. Thanks, Prongs._

_Anyways, we'll be back at Hogwarts soon. We're driving Mrs. Potter mad. I'm sure you're about ready to croak from boredom by now, but you can always go looting through the she-devil's things! I know you'd enjoy that._

_Merry Christmas, love. _

_-Sirius_

It was strange enough that he'd actually given me a present, much less two, but he even sent a letter?

What the bloody hell is he playing at? Does he know about the bet? Is he just trying to mess with my head?

Sad that I don't know the answer to any of those questions.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

The rest of break was spent wandering around the castle with Strawberries at my side. She was rarely out of Gryffindor tower, except the few times someone left the portrait open and she escaped.

We never ran into anyone, and even through the whole holiday I never saw one professor.

Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that I spent my time in the kitchens and the tower.

And then, the day before everyone was supposed to come back, while I was sitting on my bed reading, I heard shouting from the common room.

"Oi! Dae! Come down here before Padfoot finds a way to get up there?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes as I bounded down the stairs and smacked straight into someone's chest. From the faint smell of ash, lemons, and something else I could never identify, I knew that it was Sirius.

I almost jumped when he put his arms around me, but after having no human contact for over a week, I needed to hug him back.

"Hey, Muffin." He murmured into my hair.

I was smiling, even though he couldn't see it. "What are you doing here?"

James voice surprised me, causing me to jump back from Sirius, although our arms were still around each other. "Didn't Padfoot tell you? We were driving Mum bonkers. She kicked us out."

I laughed. "Wow, you two really can't handle a day without stirring up trouble, can you?"

Sirius grinned. "'Course not. I'm amazed you lasted this long."

"So am I."

His grin widened as he pulled me back into the hug, whispering into my ear, "Trouble is what we both do best, Muffin."

James cleared his throat and we pulled away from each other. "Where's my hug?" He pouted.

I rolled my eyes and ran over to him, throwing my arms around his neck while he lifted my feet off the floor. I quickly dropped my arms and threw myself back to the floor, causing him to put more while I laughed. "There. You got your hug."

He rolled his eyes but let it go, instead asking, "Did you like my present?" He sounded like such an eager little puppy that I had to laugh again.

"Yeah, by the way, what _was_ it?"

He gave a mock gasp. "You mean you don't know?" I shook my head, trying to keep a straight face. He smiled mischievously. "Well, you'll just have to wait and find out."

I was about to respond when I heard Sirius quietly say, "I'm assuming you liked my gifts, considering you're wearing one of them."

It was true; I was wearing the locket. I was about to give him some witty reply when I realized that his tone hadn't even been remotely arrogant when he'd spoken. Instead, I turned around to face him and smiled. "Yes. I loved the rain globe. It was a perfect present."

He smiled. And it was a real, genuine, no-hidden-agenda smile, something very rare for Sirius. "I'm glad."

"Speaking of gifts, mine was better than what you gave the she-devil, right?"

"One might think you're jealous, Daelia." In reaction to his comment, I just reached over and smacked James on the head, not taking my eyes away from Sirius.

He glanced away. "Well...Er, I might have forgotten to get her a present..."

I stared at him in silence for a few seconds before I bent over, laughing. Sirius grumbled something about me being daft, but I didn't comment as I fell to the ground, out of breath.

James was staring at me almost as if he was frightened. "Er...I'll be in the kitchens."

He slipped out of the common room as I stared up at Sirius, who rolled his eyes and leaned down to pick me up from the floor. He put both hands on my shoulders, holding me at arms length with an eyebrow raised as he waited for me to stop laughing.

Finally, I did. "Okay. I'm okay now. Sorry about that."

He gave me a half-smile. "It's fine. I'd be laughing too if I were in your situation."

"Good. That makes me feel a bit less _daft_."

He glared at me suspiciously. "When did you become so...happy? You...You don't even seem like you hate me anymore."

I pulled back and went to sit on the couch. He stayed standing and our gazes locked. "I don't." I said simply. "At least...I don't think I do."

He gave a sigh, maybe one of relief, and flopped down on the couch next to me. "Are you going to have one of your weirdo mood swings and start hating me again, are you?"

"I don't know. Probably. Once I see you with the she-devil again, I'm sure I'll remember what a man-whore you are."

He raised an eyebrow, although his stormy gray eyes were looking sad. "You really do sound jealous, Muffin."

No. Not jealous. Just upset about the fact that I might possibly lose this bet to the she-devil.

And then I got an idea.

I grinned seductively, and from the look on Sirius' face, I wasn't making a total fool of myself. "Black, if I wanted you, I could get you, regardless of whether you were with Elvora or not."

As I started up the stairs to the dormitory, I could have sworn I heard him mutter, "You got that right."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Everyone finally came back the next day, and I practically pounced on Lily. (Then again, so did James.)

"Thank you, Merlin! You have no idea how _boring_ the dormitory is at night. It was so quiet and..." I didn't mention the fact that I'd slept in the boys dormitory last night. "Argh! Please tell me at least _one_ of you is staying for Easter break."

Nellie laughed. "Don't worry. I'll be here."

I put a hand to my forehead dramatically. "I was about to die without you."

Alice rolled her eyes as they all started towing me towards our dormitory, mainly to get away from James, I think.

Of course, there was the added bonus of not having to see Sirius and Elvora sucking face.

And...There goes the hate again.

"How the bloody hell can he stand to be with her?" I fumed as Lily, Alice, and Nellie sat down on my bed.

"You really hate that, don't you?"

I looked at Lily incredulously. "Lily. It's bloody _Elvora_. And I may hate Black, but I refuse to lose."

Nellie laughed. "You don't hate him, Daelia. We know you don't."

"Yes. I do."

"No, you don't, Dae." Alice.

"I do."

"You really don't." Lily.

"Yes, I really do." I insisted.

"If you hate him, then why are you wearing that locket he gave you?"

Okay. That froze me up. I really had no response. I looked at Lily hopelessly. "I _need_ to hate him. I can't..._not_ hate him."

Lily smiled softly at me. "Well, you're going to have to learn."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before Nellie finally said, "Go down there. Snog him. Ask him out. Whichever. He'll say yes."

"He's dating Elvora."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Lily exclaimed.

"How does that not mean anything?"

They all gave a collective sigh, which was actually kind of frightening. "You really don't get it, do you?" Alice asked gently, yet sounding confused.

I merely raised an eyebrow while Lily said, "Look, Dae, Sirius would choose you over Elvora any day. You may not believe that, but we _know_ it. Now, you say you want to win this bet, then go down there and win it! And if you really do hate Black, which we know you don't, then don't you want to get this over with?"

I stayed silent for a few moments. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

All three of them smiled as I got up and started down the stairs. I found Sirius quickly, sitting on a couch with James and Remus while Elvora sat on the other side of the room with Shannen.

I smiled and Remus as I walked over to Sirius and grabbed his hand, pulling him up. Trying not to think, I put a hand on the back of his head and pulled his head down to meet mine, pressing my lips against his.

After the initial shock, he kissed back. I was surprised; For some reason I'd been thinking that he would push me away and hex me or something. But no, his arms wound around me, warm hands resting on my lower back. The room went silent, but I didn't pay much attention.

Honestly, I wasn't paying much attention to anything other than Sirius right now.

I wasn't even thinking about the bet.

But then when I realized that all I could think about was this snog with Sirius, I panicked and pulled away, trying to appear like I wasn't even remotely affected by what had just happened.

Sirius looked a little dazed, but his eyes were a bit smug and full of curiosity. His head was still bent down towards mine, so I stood on my toes to whisper in his ear, "You really are as good as they all say." I knew this would just inflate his ego, but there was no denying it.

Snogging Sirius Black is probably the best thing I'll ever do in my life.

I walked back over to the stairs, smiling a bit, and walked up them as Alice, Lily, and Nellie, who had been standing at the bottom watching, following.

They were all giggling as we sat back down on my bed. "Did you see Elvora's face? Priceless!"

No. I hadn't seen her face. I'd been too focused on something else...

"You're going to win, Daelia, no doubt."

"I can't believe you did that in front of the entire common room! I at least thought that you were going to take him out of the tower."

Hmm. I hadn't really thought about that.

"Dae?" A finger snapped in front of my face. "Dae!"

I looked towards Nellie. "Hmm?"

She started laughing. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

I looked down at my nails. "Who doesn't enjoy a good snog?" I replied nonchalantly.

Lily rolled her eyes but didn't comment. "So, I guess this means Elvora just lost."

"You can't know that, Lily. All I did was snog him a bit."

"Because. He snogged back." Alice chimed in. "Which means that he just cheated on her. So she lost. Contract, remember?"

"So? If they stay together for another two months after this, she wins." I stopped for a second as they all stared at me like I belong in the mental ward, and at the same time we all burst out laughing. "Okay. Never mind."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

I was a bit nervous about going to breakfast the next day, and it had nothing to do with the fact that classes were about to start up again. Practically everyone in Gryffindor had seen what I did last night, and I wasn't exactly keen on having everyone stare at me.

But hey, if it means I win, I think I can handle it.

We got down to the Great Hall at the same time as usual, and I acted as if nothing was different. The only seats open were next to the Marauders, and Lily, Alice, and Nellie raced ahead of me, leaving the seat next to Sirius the only one open. I calmly sat down, not glancing at him, and reached for some toast. Alice, who was on my other side, nusged me with her elbow and pointed down the table, saying, "There's Elvora. She's glaring daggers at you."

She was. The phrase _If looks could kill _came to mind, and I had never been so happy that that statement wasn't true.

Unless you're a basilisk.

I snorted as Lily, who was across from me and very reluctantly sitting next to James, said, "Wonder where she was last night."

"Well, I'm just glad she wasn't in the dormitory last night. I thought she was going to slit my throat in my sleep or Avada me or something."

I felt warm breath brush my ear. "And why is that, Muffin?" He murmured it so quietly that I knew no one else would hear.

"Oh, I don't know." I replied, just as quietly. "Maybe because her boyfriend decided to snog someone else last night."

None of the others were listening to us, all immersed in their own conversations, but they kept shooting us curious glances.

"If I recall, said boyfriend was accosted by some other girl. She couldn't resist his charm."

"Accosted." I scoffed. "Admit it, Black, you liked it."

He looked down at me, gray eyes sincere. "I did. And you know that."

I smiled. "Well, it's a good thing we can admit it. And by the way, I can resist your charm. I've been doing it for five and a half years, which is more than I can say for most of the other girls at this school."

"Well, it seems as if you can't resist anymore."

I snorted. "Please. I could resist you for years and years."

Lie.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then what was that last night, huh? Were you imperiused or something?"

I sighed. "No. Can we stop talking about this now?" Actually, I could have kept going, but I had to find a way to bring Elvora into the conversation. "Shouldn't you be with your sla-girlfriend?" Almost calling her a slag was _totally_ accidental. I swear.

Okay. So maybe it wasn't.

"No. She's not my girlfriend. She said she was willing to forgive me for my 'transactions with a whore that doesn't deserve to be on this Earth.' After that, I didn't really _want _her to forgive me."

I smiled. "Right. _I'm_ the whore. Isn't that an American word? I've never understood American words and yet I use them almost as often as I use English ones."

"You're not a whore _or_ a slag. You just fell for the wily charms that belong to Sirius Black."

I smacked the back of his head. "Drop that grin. One snog does not mean that I've fallen for your wily charms."

His grin didn't drop, though. Instead, it widened, and his eyes sparkled in a mischievous way that almost frightened me. "Well, then you're going to have to give me a chance to make you fall for my wily charms."

This was going exactly where it was supposed to, but I still had to play the innocent act. "And why should I give you a chance to do that?"

He was still grinning as he leaned forward a few inches to press his lips to mine. It wasn't as heated as the last night, probably because we were in front of the whole school, but it still made me crave more.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, saying, "That's why."

"Mmm." I couldn't really think of anything else to say, although my brain was buzzing with thoughts.

He rolled his eyes. "You know exactly what I'm asking."

I raised an eyebrow. "No. I really don't."

He made a noise of frustration. "You've always been impossible, Daelia. Why do you have to make this hard, too?"

I smiled. "Because it's fun. Besides, you need a challenge."

He sighed, and as his breath washed over my face I could smell mint and a hint of lemon.

Why does he always smell like lemons?

"You've been a challenge for five years, Daelia." He muttered. Then he pulled back a little bit so he could look into my eyes. "Will you, Daelia Eckhart, go out with me, Sirius Black?"

I almost said yes. It would have been easy. But I knew that I had to play the cautious card, or he would eventually get suspicious. "Go out as in...relationship?" I asked slowly as I pulled back a bit farther.

"Yes, Muffin, that's exactly what I meant."

"With...You?"

He gave me a look. "Who did you think I was talking about? Langor?" He winced when he saw me flinch. He put an arm around my waist and pulled me in for a hug. "Sorry." He murmured.

"It's fine." I whispered after a few moments. I pulled back and said, "Sorry, but I really don't feel like walking in on you shagging some Hufflepuff. Don't feel like being the laughingstock of the year."

It was true. I should have been saying yes. That was the point of the bet.

But I_ didn't_ want to walk in on him with someone else. And it had nothing to do with not wanting to be the laughingstock.

Although that wouldn't be so good, either.

"Dae, you'd be surprised how long I can last without shagging." He didn't even sound like he was lying. And I've always been good at knowing when people are lying.

"That's not what eighty percent of the female population of Hogwarts says."

"Merlin, Daelia, you really are going to be impossible, aren't you?" I smiled and he shook his head. "That's because I get bored with all of them. They're quite boring girls, you know. And annoying, too." I raised my eyebrows at him, silently asking what the point was. "Right. Anyways, I've been talking to you for five and a half years, Dae." I gave him a look and he rolled his eyes. "Okay, so part of it was arguing. But still. I haven't gotten bored of you yet, have I?"

"I guess not." I conceded.

"So. Are you going to give me an answer?"

I felt like this was some cheesy movie moment, except for the fact that this whole conversation had been whispered and it was being held in the presence of our whole school. And I still wasn't really sure why I wasn't saying yes.

Except I _was _sure. I knew exactly why I wasn't saying yes.

I didn't want to get my heart broken.

And Sirius Black was exactly the person to do that.

And I said yes anyways.

**Meh. I don't particularly like this chapter. But would you like to review anyways? Because I'm getting tired of waking up in the morning and checking my email to see fifteen things that say either story alert or favorite and then only getting one review. Pretty please?**


	10. So sorry

**So. I am ridiculously sorry. I realize it's been almost a year. But if any of you are still with me, I swear I will update in the next four days. I SWEAR D: **

**I have no excuses, really, other than I entirely forgot about this story and all fanfiction, so _**

**But seriously. Are any of you still with me? :(**


	11. Thorns

**See? I'm on time :D Just a note: Considering it's been a year, my writing style has changed a lot. I'm sorry if it bothers you, but there's nothing I can do about it. Other than try to switch back. Which I don't want to do.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Thorns**

Elvora was raging. And when I say raging, I really mean it.

Every lesson was almost torture. I could handle Elvora's glares—I've been handling them for years—but she hurled insults at me every chance she got. As soon as the teacher's back was turned, she would throw me a piece or parchment. "Slag" and "Bitch" were reoccurring words.

By lunch, almost the entire school knew Sirius and I were in a . . . relationship. Even thinking the word makes me want to gag.

But then I remember Elvora's smug face when we started the bet. She was so sure she was going to win. And proving her wrong made up for the fact that I was dating Sirius bloody Black.

Of course, it wasn't like much was happening. We didn't even sit near each other in the lessons we had that day—Double Potions and then I went off to Ancient Ruins while he went off who knew where—but we both had a free period right after lunch.

"Hey, Muffin," he said in his usual greeting once I walked into the common room. Lily was right behind me, but she ran up the stairs to our dormitory as soon as she spotted James.

I snorted and muttered, "Scaredy-cat."

The only option was to sit next to Sirius on the couch. Peter, Remus, and Nellie had already taken the three armchairs and James was sprawled across the floor, barely leaving me any room to get to the couch. "Elvora's tried to hex me six times so far," I commented.

"Key word being _tried, _right?"

"Of course, Nellie." I grinned at her, then turned to Sirius who was staring at me critically. "Can I help you?"

"What was she hexing you with?" he asked after a pause.

I shrugged and brought my legs up on the couch, plopping them into his lap. I needed to star remember that I had to act like a real girlfriend. And a damn good one if I was going to keep him for two months without shagging him. "Bat-Boogey once or twice. I think she tried to give me boils. And then she turned my hair this disgusting green color, but Lily fixed that in seconds. I dunno what the rest of it was."

"Trip Jinx," Nellie chimed in. "She tried to hit you with one on the way to the Great Hall. She missed and ended up hitting some poor little Hufflepuff."

"She could have killed you," James said casually from his spot on the floor.

I took one foot off of Sirius' lap and brought it down to kick James. I had no idea which part of him I hit, but from the embarrassing squeak of pain he emitted, I guessed it was something I shouldn't have. "Thank you for your concern about my murder. I'm glad you can be so casual about it."

"You know I didn't mean it that way, Dae!" he complained. "She's Elvora; you're Daelia. There was no chance of it hitting you."

"And why's that?" I asked, eager to see what he was going to come up with. Hopefully it was something insulting.

"Because you're Daelia," James said, as if it was supposed to be obvious. "You're too bloody epic to be hit by a Trip Jinx from the slag. It would go against the laws of the universe or something like that."

Remus stared at James like he was crazy, but I laughed. "What, so my aura or something is so awesome the universe just decides it's going to protect me from the she-devil?"

I couldn't help but wonder if that would work with winning the bet.

"Of course, Muffin. And if that doesn't work, you've always got me to protect you." Sirius grinned cheekily.

I rolled my eyes. "That's a given. You'll have to protect me from your bloody fan club, too. I can't believe they haven't made their fan club official yet." I was feeding his ego, and something inside me cringed at that, but I knew I had to do it.

I had to do everything to make him believe I was really in this.

The worst part? It wasn't very hard to act like this.

Sirius waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about them. They never do anything other than stare at me and giggle."

"Sometimes they stare at James, too," Remus pointed out.

"Right you are, Moony. But they won't do anything to you. It'll just be Hardsgrove you've got to watch out for."

It amazed me how much time he spent snogging Elvora senseless and yet he still called her by her last name. It was a nice reminder of how much of a man-whore he was.

"Hey, Elvora," Remus said before anyone else could speak. "Did you finish that Potions essay about the properties of Wormwood and Moonstone?"

I groaned. "Bollocks! Why is it _always _the Potions essays I forget?" Potions had never been my best subject, but it had gotten even worse this year. I forgot about every essay, screwed up every potion, never listened to anything Slughorn said. The only reason I'd made it into the NEWT class was because I'd gotten lucky.

That's my theory, anyway.

"Bad Muffin. Lily might have your head for this."

I gave Sirius a look. "Lily won't know. She'll be too busy yelling at James after that little stunt he pulled this morning."

James' face colored as he no doubt thought about what he'd done this morning. Somehow, he'd gotten roses up into our dormitory and onto Lily's bed. I didn't plan on asking him how he'd done that; I knew I was better off not knowing. If the boys could get in there, we really had no secrets.

Lily would have been angry enough about the roses, but they weren't even rose petals. They were full roses, thorns and all, spelling out "Lily, will you go out with me? -James"

I had to hand it to him. At least he called her Lily.

Lily came down the stairs with bleeding fingers after she'd woken up on the floor with the roses on her bed. I was hoping James hadn't given her a sleeping potion and then tossed her onto the floor.

Lily hadn't gotten a chance to yell at him yet, but I couldn't wait for it to happen.

"Remus. Give me a piece of parchment and a quill and some ink and your Potions book. Pretty please?" I bat my eyelashes at him and Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.

"You're not planning on injuring anyone, are you?" Remus asked as he reached into his bag.

"If I wanted to injure any of you, I wouldn't need a quill to do it. I just need to do the essay. But if any of you decide you want to be gits, I might throw the book at you." I took my feet off of Sirius and went to sit on the floor in the only open space, right in front of the small coffee table.

"Muffin, I'm hurt. You'd rather spend your time doing homework than with me?"

I didn't look up as I paged through the book. "If I don't finish this essay, Slughorn will give me detention. That's an entire two hours you won't get to spend with me. Now would you rather have me take twenty minutes to bullshite my way through this essay now or spend two hours rubbing my hands raw on trophies?"

I heard Sirius grumbling behind me, but I knew I'd won. After a half hour of tuning out the Marauders and their prank-planning, (Nellie helped them. They were surprised she could even suggest anything until she told them she'd learned it all from either me or her older brother.) I shut the book loudly and tossed it back and Remus.

And just happened to hit him in the face.

". . . Oops," I said as everyone laughed.

James was the first to stop laughing. The smile just dropped right off his face and he turned white in less than seconds. It took me a few moments for me to realize it was because Lily was standing behind us.

But instead of screaming or hexing James, she turned to me and said, "Zane is looking for you. I think he wants to apologize for running out on you at the ball. He's in the library." And without another word, she turned on her heel and stalked back out of the common room.

"She didn't turn your head into a horn or anything, Prongs," Sirius said to an ashen-faced James. "I reckon that's an improvement." Then he turned to me and narrowed his eyes. "Why is Johnston looking for you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Are you so thick that you can't hear? Lily just said she thinks he wants to apologize."

Sirius smirked, his grey eyes sparkling with amusement. "Ah, yes. The git abandoned you at the ball."

"He didn't abandon me, he got sick and . . . Hang on." I stared at him suspiciously. He wouldn't . . . .

But no. He was Sirius Black. Of course he would.

"Did you hex him?" I exclaimed loudly. Half the common room turned to look at us.

The smirk didn't slip off his face. "Of course not."

I kept staring at him suspiciously but decided it was best to get away from him now. Who knew what too much time with Sirius Black could do to me? I shuddered at the thought. I might start thinking that everyone loves me and I'm the hottest thing alive. Or I might even start to _like _him.

As I was walking out of the portrait, I heard him call out, "It was a potion, not a hex."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Zane was outside the library when I got there, searching through his bag for something and not looking where he was going. I stood still with my arms crossed, right in his path, and waited for him to run into me.

"Daelia! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were there, I -"

I cut him off. "Don't worry about it. Seemed like the only way to get your attention. Lily said you were looking for me?"

He smiled. It was a very nice smile, not cocky or angry or beautiful. Just . . . nice. "Yeah, I was. Would you like to go for a walk around the lake or something?"

I raised my eyebrows and pointed out one of the windows. "I don't fancy getting frostbite. How about I just walk you back to the Ravenclaw common room?"

He smiled again as his cheeks colored in embarrassment. "Yeah, that works."

We spent a few minutes chattering about lessons and how badly I was going to fail my Astronomy exam (I've still got no idea how I managed to get an E in it last year) before Zane finally said, "So . . . I hear you're going out with Black?"

I sighed. "Yes, I suppose I am."

His smile was bitter, and his green eyes were blank. I couldn't help but wonder what they would look like if they were grey . . . .

_Bad Daelia._

"Can't compete with him, can I?"

Seeing Zane's bitter expression tugged at my heart. It would be so easy to tell him about the bet, tell him I was only being nice to Sirius because I wanted to shove it in Elvora's bloody face that she just wasn't interesting enough for him—or anyone else, for that matter.

But I didn't. For whatever reason, I just gave him a sad smile back and went back to the tower.

I didn't even make it all the way back before the devil himself caught up with me. I sighed as he grabbed my wrist. "What do you want, Sirius?"

His grey eyes searched my face, and as much as I wanted to break the gaze, I couldn't. "Do you like Johnston?"

"I like a lot of people, Sirius."

"No, I mean . . . do you fancy him?"

I thought about it. Did I fancy him? He was gorgeous, he was smart, he made me laugh. But he didn't know anything about me or my family, he didn't know my favorite color or food, he couldn't make me laugh the way Sirius could. "No." I sighed.

After a few seconds, a smirk slipped onto his face. "Of course not. Why fancy him when you've got me?"

It was those kinds of remarks that reminded me of why Sirius was so bloody annoying. I rolled my eyes. "Come on, you git. Don't you have a prank to plan with your partners in crime?"

Putting an arm around me waist, we started to walk back to the tower. "At this moment, James is focused on nothing other than Evans. He's got some new plan to get her to say yes to him. Until she tragically shoots him down again, I don't think we're going to get a word out of him that isn't 'Lily' or 'date'."

_The day Lily Evans says yes to a date with James Potter is the day I fall in love with Sirius Black._

I opened my mouth to give some sort of response when I spotted a blonde head to the side, hiding behind a suit of armor. Her eyes were full of more hate than I'd ever seen. I shivered.

With that look, it kind of looked like Elvora was going to kill me.

**Kind of a filler. I'll try to have the next chapter up within a week? :D**

**I was looking through the past chapters. *winces* I was really pushy about reviews. Reviews are nice, but I'm not going to be a bitch about it :P**


	12. No Minds

**Chapter 10: No Minds**

A week later, I was starting to get nervous. From what I could see, she hadn't done anything to me all week. Even Nellie and Lily agreed that it was suspicious.

Of course, I didn't have time to worry about that, because apparently, the professors didn't understand the term "relax." Every class had us working as hard as possible, and every night I sat by the fire with Lily and Nellie and Remus—and sometimes even James and Sirius, too—doing essay after essay. And if Sirius and James actually doing homework isn't enough proof of how hard they had us working, then I don't know what is.

I was hoping maybe Elvora was too caught up in her studies to bother me, but when I voiced this to Lily, she gave me one of those _looks. _Those looks that only Lily can give that make you feel like the stupidest person on Earth. She usually only uses them on James.

"You can't honestly believe that, Dae. She's not only obsessed with winning this bet, she's obsessed with Sirius, too. She's not just going to let you have him. She's probably just planning something huge."

I blinked. "Gee, thanks, Lily. That makes me feel better."

"Don't use your sarcasm on me," she warned. "Save it for Sirius' fan club. They're too dimwitted to understand it."

I snorted. "I don't need to use it. They're too afraid of me to even talk to me. Besides, what would they say? 'Oh, sorry, you can't have him unless you want us stalking you everywhere, too.' They're harmless, Lily."

She rolled her eyes at me but finally came up to plop down on the couch next to me. "Friday," she sighed. "That means I don't have to write ten essays tonight, right?"

"Yes, Lily. But it also means you'll be seeing more of James." I winked at her when she groaned. James had learned not to bother Lily when she was doing homework, (okay, not learned. I told him.) but the weekends were free territory for him. I think Lily might be warming up to him, though. Or at least, she wasn't calling him an arrogant toe-rag every time she saw his face. I think that had more to do with me, though. Spending time with Sirius meant spending time with his friends, too, and Lily wasn't about to give me up.

I hoped.

"You know, Lily, I think we need to have some fun this weekend."

She arched an eyebrow. "You and I have a very different definition of fun."

I grinned wickedly. "Oh trust me, you'll like this. I think it's time someone got the Marauders back for their pranks."

Lily's grin turned even more wicked than mine did. "I'm listening."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Lily was energetic and jumpy the whole night. More than once, I had to whisper to her and remind her that we had to wait until Monday for the prank. What would be the use if we did it tonight or tomorrow when the Marauders could just hide in their dormitory?

James noticed whenever I whispered to her and shot me suspicious glances, but he never said anything.

"We need to have a party," Sirius announced sometime around midnight from his spot next to me on the couch.

"Wait until the next Quidditch game, you nitwit."

Sirius stared at me blankly for a few moments. "I have never heard you call anyone a nitwit."

I shrugged. "I needed a word I hadn't already used. Gotta have some originality, yeah?"

". . . Yeah," he muttered with a smile, shaking his head. "So, Prongs!" he said loudly. James looked up from his conversation with Remus. Of course, he'd been staring at Lily, who was curled up the armchair closest to the fire with a muggle book. "Next Quidditch game. Against Ravenclaw. We haven't had a practice all week."

James sighed. "Because we're all drowning in essays, Padfoot, remember?"

Sirius waved a hand dismissively. "It's the weekend. People will survive."

With another sigh, James said, "I guess you're right. We'll practice for a few hours tomorrow. I'll tell the team at breakfast."

While Sirius and James continued to converse about Quidditch plays I only partially understood, I slid off the couch to sit on the floor next to Remus. "Remus!" I exclaimed. "It has been too long, my old friend. I'm feeling neglected."

Remus gave me a small smile. "Don't say that to Sirius."

I groaned quietly at the thought. "Merlin, that would be a disaster. I'd be listening to nonstop innuendos for weeks."

Remus grinned. "You wouldn't be the only one listening to them. He'd be constantly coming up with them when we're trying to sleep, and then he'd probably say one out loud and ask us what we think."

My eyes widened. "Merlin. If he does that, throw a pillow at him. Or a glass. Throw a glass. Or maybe hex him so he won't talk anymore."

Remus' laugh was infectious. He was just one of those people—if he was happy, you were happy. It was like his happy energy transferred over to you or something. "Just don't tell him what you told me and that situation will never happen."

"Right. I'll remember. Have to watch my mouth and steer it away from anything that could be made into a sexual innuendo."

"_Anything _can be made into a sexual innuendo by Sirius. Be grateful he's not always energetic enough to think of one. And that he doesn't want to insult you every time he speaks. And that he doesn't want you to hex him. And that -"

I laughed and cut him off. "I get it, Remus. I should be grateful for a lot of things."

His eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't mean it that way, I-"

I cut him off again with a dismissive wave of my hand. "I know. Now go and get some sleep. You're starting to look as pale as Nearly Headless Nick. Full moon in two days, isn't it?"

He nodded. "You're probably right. If I sit down here any longer I'll pass out."

"And I don't think James or Sirius want to drag you upstairs," I added. With a tired smile, he stood up and walked off to bed, leaving me on the floor by myself. Lily had already gone upstairs without my noticing, and James and Sirius were still both engrossed in Quidditch conversation.

I stared at the fire, basking in the warmth. Just a few more weeks until Easter break. I'll be stuck here for two weeks by myself again, bored out of my mind with no one but Strawberries to talk to.

Better than being stuck with Marcus, I supposed.

Which reminded me that it had been too long since I'd written to Evangeline. Dumbledore had told me that she was safe, that they wouldn't let anything happen to her, but I wasn't allowed to know where she was. No one was. The Fidelius Charm was useful like that. However, Dumbledore always made sure my letters got to her.

"Muffin, fires are pretty, sure, but they aren't _that_ interesting. You've been staring at it for twenty minutes." I jumped at the sound of his voice and turned my head to see Sirius sitting on the couch alone. He patted the space beside him. "Prongs went to bed a few minutes ago. Something about giving us 'alone time.'" He winked.

Rolling my eyes, I hopped up on the couch and snuggled into his side. It wasn't as hard as it should have been. I should have given it a second thought, wondered if I really _had _to be this close to him for the sake of the bet. But I didn't. He was warm, he was there, and he was Sirius.

"I'm not going to see you at all tomorrow, am I? You'll be holed up in the library with Lily all day."

I tried—and failed—not to giggle at his pout. "For one thing, no, I won't. Sunday's the day I'll be doing that. And for another thing, you could always _join _us in the library. You know, do some essays. Study."

"Muffin, I don't _need _to study, in case you hadn't noticed."

I glared at him sourly. It was true; he studied for about five minutes before exams and somehow managed to do well on all of them. Damn egotistical genius.

"And you don't need to, either," he said, touching my nose affectionately.

"Yes. Yes I do. Daelia would like to not fail her exams. If she fails her exams, she won't get a good job. If she does not get a good job, she'll be poor and homeless. Daelia does not want to be homeless."

He squeezed me. "You won't be homeless, Daelia. Have you forgotten about all your friends? Who all have houses they'd be happy to let you stay in? Which reminds me, are you going home with Lily for Christmas?"

I blinked at the subject change. "Shouldn't we go to bed soon?" I asked evasively.

He looked at me sternly. I didn't even know Sirius could do that. "Don't answer my question with a question."

I sighed and looked away from him, back at the fire. "I don't think so, no."

"Nellie?"

I sighed again. "No."

"Alice?"

"No, dammit, and you know it!"

His stare is hard when I look back at him. Almost angry. "You're not staying here, Daelia. You can't."

I pulled away from him and watched his arm fall limply back at his side. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do. I'm not going to let you order me around, be the next Marcus."

His face drops and his eyes flash with hurt. "Do you honestly think I would hit you, Daelia? Lock you up and hurt you like that?" He sounded so offended, so angry, that a little piece of my heart broke apart.

"No," I whispered, moving closer to him. "I know you wouldn't." It was appalling that he thought I could think that about him. He could break my heart, yes, but he would never be anything like Marcus.

I had the overwhelming urge to put my arms around him, so I did. He stiffened for a few moments before slowly wrapping his arms around me. I kept my head buried in his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry." My voice was muffled, but I know he heard me, because his arms tightened. "I'm sorry," I repeat.

"I don't mean to sound controlling. I just don't want you to stay here by yourself," he murmured in my ear. I hoped he didn't notice the shiver that went down my spine. "And you know James won't allow it, either. I'm going there for Easter, so why can't you come? You know his parents would love to have you there."

I hesitated. His parents _would _love to have me there, because that's just the way they were. The more people, the better. And I'd spent holidays there before, before my mother had died, so why couldn't I now?

Because it felt like pity, that's why. Part of me knew it wasn't, tried to argue that it was just kindness, just friendship, but the paranoid part of me tried telling me that all they wanted was someone to pity to make them feel superior.

But sitting here in Sirius' warm arms, the logical side won out, and I whispered into his shoulder, "Okay."

He pulled back, keeping his arms around me, and gazed at me with those grey eyes of his. After searching my face for a few seconds, he leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against mine.

Softly wasn't enough for me. I don't know what it was, but as soon as his lips were against mine, something inside me stirred. I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer, pressing my tongue against his lips, demanding entrance. He complied eagerly, and soon enough, my hands were roaming all over his chest while his finger traced a path up and down my spine. My body felt like it was on fire.

I was starting to get lost in the kiss. All I could see was Sirius, all I could feel was Sirius.

But then he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "We should probably stop before I decide I want to rip your clothes off and shag you right here," he said breathlessly.

I didn't tell him that I probably wouldn't have minded.

**Okay, so this was kind of a filler too. I'll try to make the next chapter more exciting. Review if you have any suggestions? :D**


End file.
